i i jr 



p:cclksiastical historv 



CITV OF WORCESTER 



Rv ^HARi.Kis K^Il^K■^ s, T I-: \- b:xs. 



[RP.I'RI>TF.1) from TIIK IIISIORV ok WORCESTER COINIV, MASSArHUSKTT.S.] 






In Eiicnaugo 
Amer. Ant. 3oo> 

25 Jl 1907 




''/^^na i 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WORCESTER. 



A HISTORY of any New Enghmd town without an 
ecclesiastical chapter would surely be like the play 
of Hamlet with the jiart of Hamlet left out. For a 
city of eighty thousand inhabitants, with fifty 
churches and fifleeo denominations, and a history 
covering two centuries, such a chapter ought of right 
to occupy ii large space. But this the |«lan of the 
present work altogether forbids. Only a very con- 
densed outline of what might well fill a volume can 
here be given. It must needs be a somewhat bald 
narration. Outline sketches admit of neither shad- 
ing nor color. Under such limitations this writing 
must proceed. 

At the outset two methods of treatment presented 
themselves. One was the chronological method ; 
the other was the topical. By the latter method all 
that is U> be saiil of one denomination would be pre- 
sented by itself; the topic would be exhausted be- 
fore another was touched. Beginning with the 
Trinitarian Congregationalists, for example, we should 
treat of all the churches of that <jrder before pm- 
teeiiing with the next. And although the other 
method may have its advantages, and, indeed, has 
been adopted by some writers, this, on the whole, 
seemed to be the preferable method. It has this im- 
|iortant advantage, that the origin and growth of 
each denomination can be viewed consecutively and 
apart frmi others. Acxonlingly, this method will be 
pur8Ue<I in the present hintory. Without further 
preface, I begin with the 

Tkinitakian CosoREiiATiosAUinti—Firtl or Old 
•Soutli Church. — The first permanent settlement in 
Worcenter began on the IJlsl of October, I7l:(. 
Nearly fifty years before, wteps had been taken towards 
this end and tcm|Hirary settlements had been begun; 
but Iwfore fwil was set upon the soil a provision waa 
made " that u gomi minister of ( rod's word be placed 
there." This provision wils first reali/.ed in the year 
171'J, when the Kev. Andrew Oardner was ordained 
as the fiml minister of the Cospel settled in WorciM- 
ter. Before this, however, the people had been wont 
l". assemble regularly for public worshi|. in llieir 



dwelling-houses, and notably in that of Gershom 
Rice, who was the first to open his house fur the pur- 
pose. Soon the dwelling-house became too strait, 
and in 1717 a small meeting-house of logs was built. 
It stood at the corner of Franklin and Green Streets, 
just southeast of the Common. This served its pur- 
pose until 17iy, when a more spacious edifice was 
erected on the site thenceforward occupied by the 
Old .South for one hundred and sixty-eight years. 
Meanwhile a church had been constituted — perhaps 
self-constituted — with Daniel Heywood and Nathan- 
iel Moore for its first deacons. This occurred soon 
after the permanent settlement. The precise date of 
this imjiortant beginning is not known, but Whitney 
("History of Worcester County') thinks that all 
probabilities point to the year 1719. This, then, 
.seems to have been the year when the church was 
organized, the meeting-house built and the first min- 
ister settled. 

The ministry of Mr. Gardner was not a liajjpy one. 
He Wius addicted to deer-hunting and practical jokes, 
and, naturally, wjis accused of remissness in the dis- 
charge of his duties. His people on their part ne- 
glected to pay his small stipend of perhaps £40, and 
also the "gratuity '' of £(iO, which they had voted to 
give him. Dissatisfaction increa.sed ; some left his 
preaching. The General Court having been appealed 
to in vain, an ecclesiastical council was at length 
convened, in 8e|itember, 1721, to take the matter in 
hand. After long delay by the council, on the 3l8t 
of October, 1722, Mr. Gardner was dismissed from 
his charge. It is said his errors were more of the 
head than of the heart. He was generous, some- 
times without regard to conseiiiience.s. This instance 
has been preserved : " A poor parishioner having 
solicited aid in circumstances of di.slress, Mr. Gard- 
ner gave away his only pair of shoes for his relief; 
anri, as this was done on .Saturday, appearnl the next 
day in his stockings at the desk to perform the morn- 
ing service, anil in the evening officiated in borrowed 
slippers a world l4io wide for his slender members." 
Mr. (iarilner was a native of Brooklirie and agradu- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WORfESTER. 



ate of Harvard in the class of 1712. It was thought 
worthy of mention that, in conformity with the cus- 
tom of the time, his name was placed last in the roll 
of his class, as indicating the relative social position 
of his parents. For the same reason Abraham Lin- 
coln's name would have stood at the foot of his class 
had he been college bred. The subsequent history 
of Mr. Gardner did not improve his reputation. In- 
stalled as the first minister of Lunenburg in 1728, 
and dismissed in 1731 " because he was unworthy,"' 
he retired to a town in the Connecticut Valley, and 
there died at an advanced age. After a period of 
preaching without settlement by the Rev. Shearjashub 
Bourne, the Rev. Thomas White and others, on the 
10th of February, 1725, a call was given to the Rev. 
Isaac Burr, and on the l.Sth of October following he 
was ordained as the second minister. A long and 
quiet ministry followed. His relations with the peo- 
ple were cordial, and the latter were forward and gen- 
erous in his support. When the paper money of the 
]jeriod became depreciated they took care that his 
salary should not suffer. During his ministry a 
memorable event wiis the arrival in Worcester, Octo- 
ber 14, 1740, of George Whitefield, accompanied by 
Gov. Belcher. On the next day the famous evan- 
gelist " preached on the Common to some thousands," 
as he wrote in his diary. Nothing appears to show 
that this visit was otherwi.se than welcome to Mr. 
Burr. And yet, the forces then .set in motion had 
their ultimate issue in his dismission. It seems the 
Rev. David Hall, of Sutton, "a follower of White- 
field," found Mr. Burr too backward in the new 
Whitefield movement. Though he preached re- 
peatedly "in private houses" in Worcester with Air. 
Burr's consent, yet he was moved to write down in 
his diary that the latter "seemed not well pleased.'' 
At length Mr. Burr refused his consent to further 
preaching by his Sutton brother, whereupon the lat- 
ter was led to express the fear that the Worcester 
minister was " too much a stranger to the power of 
godliness." In truth, a Wliiterield party had been 
formed in Worcester, and Mr. Burr wa.s found not to 
be of the number. Alienation naturally arose, and 
the growing trouble impaired his health. So, in 
about four years after Whitefield's advent, a mutual 
council was convened, and \inder its advice Mr. Burr 
was dismissed in March. 174"). Lincoln ("History of 
Worcester," p. 146) says that he was the son of the 
Hon. Peter Burr, the father of Pre-sident Burr, of 
Princeton College, and consequently grandfather of 
Aaron Burr, Vice-President of the United States. 
But this is an error. It appears from evidence in the 
probate office at Hartford, Conn., that he w!ia the son 
of Thomas Burr, of that city, and therefore not of 
the Aaron Burr lineage. He was born in 1698, and 
graduated at Yale in 1717. His death occurred at 
Windsor, about 1751. No portraiture of his person 
or mind survives ; no characteristic anecdote is of 
record, and nothing testifies of his ministry save its 



continuance for a fifth of a century in a generally 
peaceful way. The town next made choice of Na- 
thaniel (iardner, a graduate of Harvard in 17.S9; he, 
however, declined the call. Nearly two years elapsed 
before the settlement of the next minister. In this 
interval a covenant ' was adopted and subscribed by 
fifty members of the church. Doubtless there was a 
covenant of some sort when the church was first or- 
ganized, but what it was, and how it compared with 
this new one, we have no means of knowing. If it 
was a " half-way covenant" after the fashion of that 
day, it must have differed materially from this one of 
1746. 

After Mr. Gardner many candidates were heard : 
but at last the choice lay between the Rev. Thaddeus 
Maccaity, of Boston, and the Rev. .Jonathan May- 
hew, of Martha's Vineyard. Each was to preach 
four Sabbaths in succession, and on the Sabbath be- 
fore the day of election both were to preach. After 
this competitive trial the choice by a very large ma- 
jority fell on Mr. Maccarty, and Worcester missed the 
chance of having the famous divine of the Revolu- 
tion among the number of its ministers. Mr. Mac- 
carty was installed on the 10th of June, 1747. The 
sermon on the occasion was preached by himself, for 
which unusual step he offered ingenious reasons in 
the introduction. Besides the pecuniary provision 
for his support, a house with about two acres of 
land on the Common southeast from the meeting- 
house wiis purchased for a parsonage. In 1765 this 
property was conveyed in fee to Mr. Maccarty by the 
town. Nearly fifty years after, in a suit by the Rev. 
Samuel Austin, I). I)., in behalf of the parish, the 
property was recovered back from the tenant claim- 
ing under a conveyance by the executors of the de- 
ceased minister. The estate, however, was afterwards 
relinquished by the parish. The ministry of Mr. 
Maccarty was of nearly forty years' duration. In the 
course of it occurred the Revolutionary War, bring- 
ing severe trials ; and at the close protracted sickness 
kept liini out of the pulpit. He liveil greatly re- 
spected and died deeply lamented on the 20th of 
July, 1784, at the age of sixty-three years. His min- 
istry was the longest of all which the First Church 
enjoyed during the first one hundred and seventy 
years. Mr. Maccarty was fall, slender and thin, with 
a black, penetrating eye, which a<lded to his effective- 
ness in speaking.- 

1 To be fuuiid in Lincoln'^ " History of Worcenter." 

- A faint Ii)ienes8 ol liiin survives on u pooriy-i>ainteil canviis in the 
)io.ssession of Mrs. Mury P. Dunn, one of liis lineal ilescendanLs. His 
remains were btirietl in the cemetery then on tlie Common, at a spot 
just soutli of and very near tlie Soldiers* Monument. In 1848 all tlie 
gruveslones in the cemetery were laid Hat, each t>ver its respective 
grave, and buried beneath the turf, and Mr. Marcarty's uinong the 
rest. A description of the emblems on his headstone, together with its 
inscriptions, is given in Barton's '* Kpitaplis." The inscriptions were 
copied upon a mural tablet erected in the Old South by Dwight Foster 
(brother of Mrs. l>uun), late a justice of the Supreme Court of Ma.tsa- 
cl)u»etts. The tablet will have an appropriate place upon the wall of 
the New Old Suuth. 



ECCLESIASTICAI, TIISTORY OF WORCESTKH. 



" As a preacher he was solemn, loud, searching and 
rousing," saiil a contemiMirary clerical brother. Pres- 
ident John Adams, in his early years a resident of 
Worcester, wrote to Dr. Bancroft that " Mr. ALac- 
carty, though a Calvinist, was no bigot." In the 
course of his ministry, Mr. Maccarty published eight 
occasiiinal sermons ; .several others may be found in 
DoctorSmalley's " Worcester l'uli«it." From these pos- 
terity may judge something of his doctrine, which 
was sound, and something of his style, which was 
not claasical. During his sickness and after his de- 
cease a young man appeared in his pulpit whose 
preaching was destined to be the occasion, if not the 
cause, of a lusting division in the First I*arisli. Of 
this an account will be given under aiu)ther head. 
Durini; the controversy which arose, no minister was 
culled ; then, in 17SG, the Kev. Daniel Story was 
railed, accepted the call and went on preaching, 
without being ordained, for about two years, when 
the call was re-called. It had been discovered, that 
he, too, entertained Arminian sentiments. Having 
thus received his congr in Worcester, Mr. .Story went 
into Ohio as chaplain of the c<)ni|)any which founded 
Marietta, the centennial of which was celebrated in 
I88ii, a distinguished citizen of Worcester (Senator 
Hoar) having a leading part therein. Mr. Story was 
an uncle of Joseph Story, the eminent justice of the 
Supreme Court of the United States. He was born 
in Boston on the li'.Uh of July, 17r)li, was a grad'jate 
of Dartmouth in tlie class of I7S0 and died at Mari- 
etta in 1.SU4. 

The settlement rif the ne.xt minister, Dr. .Vustin, 
in the last ile<.ade of the century, was the beginning 
of a new order of things. Before proceeding with 
its history let us look at the way of public worship 
in the First (,'liurch during the period then closing. 
As elsewhere, the principal parts of the service were 
praying and preaching; singing and reading the 
^^cripture lesson were subordinate ; and, indeed, thi.s 
last did not become a part of the service until near 
the middle of the century. I'nder date of Sejilem- 
ber .•{, 1749, the church record recites that the " laud- 
able custom was very unanimously come into by the 
church at one of their meetings some time before." 
In this matter the Worcester church was not behind 
others, since the custom " was not introdmeil into 
New Kngland " until that period. Singing had been 
a part of the .service from the beginning. At first it 
was congregational, primitive and rude. The minis- 
ter read the first line of a psalm and the congrega- 
tion wing it. Then the eldest deacon " lined " the 
rest, arirl "singing and remling went on alternately." 
There was neither chorister nor choir nor set tune, 
but ca<'h one sang to please himself. This was Ihe 
"usual way," so-called. In 172t; an attempt was 
made to substitute the " ruleable way." A vote of 
the town was passed to that cflcia, but the deacons 
resisted, and Ihi- "usual way " still prevailed. The 
unmelodions custom whs too strongly entreuche<l. ' 



Forty-three years went by and a generation had 
died ofl' before another attempt to change it was 
made. Then, in May, 17ti',*, came a modest propo- 
sition to invite "a ijualified individual" to leail. 
A bolder stroke followed in March, 1770, when three 
men were designated by name "to sit in the elders' 
seat and lead," and by a unanimous vote a fourth 
was chosen to "assist." Here was our modern quar- 
tette, .so far as the old-time .sense of pro|(ricty would 
allow. The next .stei) was taken in 1778 by providing 
seats exclusively for the singers. Six years after, on 
the 5th of August, 1779, the town struck the final 
blow by adopting these votes : That the singers sit 
in the front seats of the front gallery ; that they be 
rei|ue.ste<l to take said seats and carry on the sing- 
ing ; and that the psalm be not " lined," Neverthe- 
less, ou the ne.\t Sabbath the venerable eldest deacon 
rose and began to " line " the psalm. The singers, 
from tlieir new " coign of vantage," began to sing ; 
the deacon raised his voice, the singers raised theirs ; 
it was an unequal strife, and the deacon "retired from 
the meeting-liou.se in tears." This was the end of the 
" usual way '' of singing in Worcester. From that 
time onward the ruleable way prevai'ed without op- 
position. 

The first book in use was the " Bay I'salm Book," ' 
as improved by President Dunster, of Harvard Col- 
lege. This held the ground until 17i'il, and was then 
displaccil by the version of Tate and Brady, " with 
an Appendix of Scriptural Hymns by Dr. Watts." 
The exact date when this book came into use was on 
the 2yth of November in that year. It continued in 
use until the settlement of Dr. .\u.stin, and then, on 
the 20th of .lanuary, 1790, gave way to "Watts' 
I'salms and Hymns and S|)iritual Songs." The ver- 
sion of Sternh'dd and Hopkins wiis never used 
in the church in this town," says Lincoln.- This 
version was the one in use under royal authority 
by the Church of England, and was bound up with 
its " Book of Common Prayer." Perhaps it was be- 
cause of thit that the New Kngland churches chose 
to have a" Psalm Book "of their own — a book free 
front all complicity with an established church. 

I TliiM itiuHt riiiiiijiiit unil mn-Hl uf Ifuukii wiut tliu lli-Ht mik- uvcr iirllilftl 
111 Ainrricfi. Itii (nif, wliolo iiiiil oiil^' tillu wiiH " Tlio whutu litHjkit of 
(niulliirii Inllliriiny traimlnti'il Into KiikHxIi Mutli', WluriMiiHo In prvllxuil 
u 4liiti.'uunio (It'cluriiiK iHit uiily llii' luwfiiliifH, but uI-mi tliu iioi-Mia>- nf 
(he licuvmily OnlliiHiict'it vf ((liiKiiiK S^-rliifiiru I'niiliiiH in tliu Cliiircliira nf 

• JikI. Iiniirihlnl HHc)," In lil;l(; Hutu wuri', iui)h Dr. Tin ui I'rliito, 

" iie«r tlilrly niliilMtoni " In Nrw KtiKliirnl w liu liuil iMHin iHluriiti'il In Ilii* 
Knf(ll<*li unhi^rifltlfM. TIkwi •livllii'H wli-i-lpil .<nl of (lii'lr niinitxT "Uim 
ll-t. Mr. Kl.hiirU MiiUuM, lliii Ituv. .Mr. 'niuiiiiix WiliI iinil llin ll.<v. Mr. 
.lolin KIlut," tt* itri'piiri! m new vunilon of Uit- I'wtlnm fur l\w um, ,4 tliii 
Ni'W KnKl'inil i:liiirrtii.f<. Tli« prlntlnK "f tin- work won ln-gnn In KVlli 
uikI coinploUHl In ICHU. Till* wiuilhn " IIa)' I'lUiliniluuk." A nhiKluruii)', 
U<iirintj; Uio Iniiirlnl of llic iMt-nAinvil yi*Hr, In Iruftsun'il iu tlin Iruii miFu 
>il lUv Anntrlciin Anll'|uiirian .Soclolv, In WiircMlnr It U iMrniollinHii 
wlU u{ It rvry nir* Ixxtk tliut It In wurtli ItN wclKlit In gulil. In Is7ti m 
I'Mpyur thlalxHik ImliinglnK |i> tin' cxlali' uf tlin IiiIk Dr. Nntlinnlnl It. 
SlinrllrIT, wan *,)I<1 by uiictlun In ll*>^lun TorftlMint imiillioniinnil iind tlriy 
'lolUn Tltv Won filler ciipy wkIkIih iitntt oniicra. Tin- piku p«ti<l for llio 
ll<i«lou copy, tiiuroforu, wim niurt> than n1\ tlnit<« IU wi'l^'li' i-' ' ■ 

• MS. Nuivi In Llli. of Anlh|. Sue. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WORCESTEK. 



To illustrate the several versions and furnish a 
means of comparison the first veree of the first psalm 
from each is subjoined. 

From the Bay Psai.m-Book uf 1040. 

O Bk'Hsed man tlmt in tU' advice 

uf wielded doth nut walk : 
nor stand in sinners way, nor sit 

in cluiyre of scornfull folic. 

From Dunstku's Improved Bay Psalm-Book of 16?S0. 

<J Blessed man that walks uotin 

th' advice of wicked men, 
Nor staudeth iu tliesinnei-s way 

nor Bcuruei-:! seat sits in. 

From Tate and Brauy, Okioinal Kpition, .\nno 1700. 

Happy the Man whom ill Advice 

From Virtue ne'er withdrew, 
Who ne'er with Sinnei'S stood nor »at 

Amongst the scotting Crew. 

From Tate anu Brai>y, with Appendix by Watts, Anno 1751. 
How blest is he who ne'er consents 

by ill Advice to walk 
Nor stands iu Siuuers Ways ; nor sits 

where Men profanely talk I 

From Sternhold and Hopkins, London, 164s. 
The man is blest that hath not bent 

to wicked read his eare : 
Nor led his life as sinners do, 

nor sate in scoruera chaire. 

After six years of waiting the First Parish at length 
secured the most di.stiiiguished among all its minis- 
ters. On the 29th of (September, 1790, the Rev. 
Samuel Austin, D.D., of iNew Haven, was duly in- 
stalled in the vacant pulpit. His first considerable 
step was to clear up and reinvigorate the doctrinal 
basis of the church. A new creed and covenant were 
adopted, whereby its orthodoxy was conformed to the 
strictest type. All the subsequent activities of Dr. 
.\ustin had tliis type for their basis. He devoted 
himself to the investigation of theological questions. 
He prepared ami published the first complete edition 
of the works of the elder Jonathan Edwards. He 
was one of the founders of the General Association 
of Massachusi^tts, and also of the Massachusetts 
Home Missionary Society. He wiis often called to 
sit in councils on diflicult case.s. He was a man of 
strong convictions and plain speech. On public 
affairs he preached with great freedom. His fast-day 
sermons were notable. Several were published. The 
one preached on tlie 28d of July, LSI 2, during the 
war, caused much agitation. He therel'ore published 
it, with this upon its title-page: "Published from the 
press by the desire of some who heard it and liked 
it; by the desire of some who heard it and did nol 
like it; and by the desire of others who did not hear 
it, but imagine they should not have liked it if they 
had." 

At the end of twenty-five years he became presi- 
dent of the IJniveisity of Vermont, but,,because oC 
the suit already mentioned, remained nominal pastor 
of the First Parish till 1S18. Resigning the college 



presidency in 1821, he became pastor of a small 
church in Newport, R. I., once the charge of the 
famous divine. Dr. Samuel Hopkins. This, too, he 
resigned in 1825, and tlieu returned to Worcester, 
preaching occasionally in Millbury. By and by the 
death of an adopted son, physical disesise and pecu- 
niary losses brought on mental disturbance. Like 
the poet Cowper, he became a religious monomaniac. 
The darkness of despair settled down upon him. For 
some four years he remained in this state of gloom. 
Near the end, light at intervals broke through the 
cloud. He died on the 4th of December, 1830, in the 
seventy-first year of iiis age. He was a man of com- 
manding stature, of dignified carriage, austere yet 
affable on near approach, and " with a smile like 
a sunbeam breaking through the clouds." As a 
pl'eacher he was remarkable for power and pathos, 
and of eminent gifts in devotional exercises. The 
impress of his character was deep and abiding. Of 
his publications, Lincoln ("History") gives a list of 
thirty-three, with their titles. 

The successor of Dr. Austin was the Rev. Charles 
A. Goodrich. He was ordained as colleague pastor 
on the 9th of October, 1816, and became sole pastor 
by the formal dismission of Dr. Austin in 1818. His 
ministry was short but fruitful of a spiritual harvest, 
about eighty new confessors oeing added to the church 
in one year. But it was a ministry full of trouble 
also. Beginning as a young man of twenty-six years, 
he found himself confronted at the outset with the 
opposition of a leading person both in the parish and 
in the town. Though this person was not himself of 
the church, yet some of his family were; and the com- 
bined influence of all caused the diaft'ection to spread. 
Attempts at reconciliation were made and failed. It 
became evident that either the minister or the disaf- 
fected must leave. The former was too strongly in- 
trenched to be ousted, and the latter perforce ac- 
cepted the alternative. For a time they resorted to 
other communions while retaining connection with 
their own church. Presently, they sought release 
from this bond. Some asked for dismission and re- 
commendation. Several were dismissed but not re- 
commended. Gouncils were resorted to and counter- 
councils were held, with the usual results of ex parte 
proceedings. Each party in turn was sustained. At 
last a council constituted the disaflected, with others, 
into a new church, the history of which, under the 
name of the Galvinist or Central Church, will be given 
in its proper place. A war of pamplilets followed, 
able and exhaustive on both sides; and to them the 
reader must be remitted for further and fuller details 
of the unhappy controvei'sy. This church quarrel 
w:i3 the most serious that ever atllicted any church of 
any communion in the town. Ill health compelled 
Mr. Goodrich to lay down his charge on the 14th of 
November, 1820, and the same cause prevented him 
from resuming the pastoral oflice. For the rest of 
his life he devoted himself to literary pursuits. He 



K(TLKSTASTI(\I. lIlSTcmV OF WORCKSTEK 



became a mnker of books; his school histories were in 
their ibiy greatly in vogue, and of one more than one 
huii<ire<l tbousunil copies were printed. A list of his 
principal works is to be found in the "Worcester 
I'ulpit." 

The sixth pastor of the Old .South and the next 
after NJr. (iiHidrich was the Rev. Anctius Fk'vil Hull, 
liorn at Woodbridge, Conn., in 17.SS, grailuatcd in 
18"I7 at Vale, where he was a tutur for six years, he 
wa-s orilained and settletl at Worcester on the Tld o( 
May, I.^L'I. He came to his new calling with a high 
reputation both im a scholar and as a teacher. Ill 
health, however, kept him down, and after a protracted 
.-ickness he died in office on the 17th of May, 1826. 
His virtues asa man and aniinister were celebrated by 
his contemporary neighbor, l)r. Nelson, in a funeral 
sermon. He was eminently social, simple, retined, 
charming in conversation and "a welcome friend to 
the poor." A i|uarter of a century alter his death 
men often spoke of him "with kindling emotion." 
His church attested their affection by erecting to his 
memory a monument inscribed all over with elaborate 
encomium. In 1827 the church and parish united in 
a cjill to the Rev. Rodney A. Miller. The call was 
accepted and he wjus ordained on the 7th of June in 
that year. For nearly seventeen years he remained 
pastor ol the church. During this periotl more than 
four hundred were added to its communion. At 
length dillerences arose between Mr. Miller and mem- 
bers of the church and parish ; in conse<iueiice, a mu- 
tual council wa.s called and the result of its advice 
was the dismission of Mr. Miller. For many years 
after, he continued to reside in Worcester, but in the 
end returned to Troy, N. V.. his native place, where he 
died at an ailvanced age. Mr. Miller wits the first presi- 
dent of the first Temperance As.sociation e\cr formed 
in Worcester. For some years he was one of the 
overseers of Harvard I'niversity and had a zeal for 
the rectification of its theological standards. 

.\ series of seven p:Lstorates followed that of Mr. 
.Miller. The first was that of the Rev. George Phil- 
lips Smith, a graduate of Amherst in 1H3'>. He was 
instjilled on the IDth of March, 184.1, and died at 
Salem, while in office, (m the ;'.d of September, 18.52. 
His ministry was a happy and successful one. Fol- 
lowing him came the Rev. Horace James, a gra<luale 
of Yale in 1840, who wiis installed »n the Hti of Feb- 
ruary, I8A:',. .Mr. .lanicH was full of devotion to bis 
charge, but when the Civil War broke out, devotion to 
his country overbore the former and issued in his ap- 
pointment as chaplain of the Twcnty-liftli Rcgimcnl 
of Miui.-uichnselts Volunteers, and his consei|Uent dis- 
mission from his pastoral charge. This event occurred 
>>n the 8th of January, \>^l',:i, ami his death on the !lth 
of June, 187o. Rev. Kdward Ashley Walker, who 
had been ordained chaplain of the First Connecticut 
Heavy .\rtillery in .Inne, I8i;i, was installed as Mr. 
.lami-s' succcs.sor on the 2d of July, I8ti!!. Like some 
of his predecessors, he was compelled by ill health to 



retire altogether from the ministry. His doath oc- 
curred on the 10th of .\pril, ISOil. Uiiiing his min- 
istry, September 22, 1803, the one hundredth anni- 
versary of the bnihling of the Old South meeting- 
house w!is elaborately commemorated. .\t the meet- 
ing-house the Hon. Ira M. Barton made an introduc- 
tory address, and Leonard Bacon, I). 1)., of New 
Haven, gave a historical discoui-se; while at Mechan- 
ics Hall, ill the after part of the day, much reminis- 
cent discoursing wius had. The old meeting-house, a 
typical specimen of New England church architecture 
of the hist century, with its elegant slender spire and 
faithful weathercock, was suffered to remain for nearly 
a quarter of a century longer before its demolition in 
August, 1887, under a municipal decree. 

.After Mr. Walker's dismission the Rev. Royal B. 
Stratlon was installed on the 2d of .laiinary, 18(J7. 
Serious disability, more or less impairing his useful- 
ness, led to his dismission on the 2'>th of April, 1872. 
His death occurred in this city on the 24th of .Janu- 
ary, 1875. On the 21st of :\Iay following Rev. Wil- 
liam M. Parry, of Nottingham. Kiigland. received a 
unanimous call to the pastorate. He practically ac- 
cepted the call and performed his duties as acting 
pastor, but was never installed. On November .3, 
1873. he " resigned," but the resignation, taking the 
church by "surprise," was not accepted. On the 
Uth of December it was withdrawn, hut on the 4th 
of Jamiary following he preached his farewell ser- 
mon. His preaching had been both dramatic and 
eccentric and conseijuently had drawn crowded houses. 
Leaving the Old South, he drew after him nearly 
one hundred and fifty of its communicants, and to- 
gether they at once proceeded to organize a new 
church ill Mechanics Hall by the name of the Taber- 
nacle Church. Without loss of time a Congrega- 
tional Council was convened for the purpose of recog- 
nizing the church and installing Mr. Parry as its 
pa.stor. The council received the church into fellow- 
ship but refused to install Mr. Parry. The chiireh 
then proceeiled to violate the principle of the fellow- 
ship, to which it hail just been admitted, by an auto- 
cratic installation. The services on the occiusion 
were performed by lay members of the church ; and 
in that fashion Mr. Parry became the first and, as it 
proved, the only pastor of the Tabernacle Church in 
Worcester. Church and pastor bolh came to a 
speedy end. Mr. Parry suddenly died in his chair 
while making a call upon two of his female parish- 
ioners, and the church, already grown disgusted and 
disintegrated by his gross and increasing eccentrici- 
ties, vanished into the inane. 

To return to the Old South : The Rev. Nathaniel 
Mighill, a graduate of Amherst in I8li0, was installed 
as Mr. Stratlon's successor, September 2.'>, 187.'). The 
fate of 80 many of his predcceasors overtook him 
also, and hceause of ill health he was dismissed on 
the l.')lh of June, 1877. Then followed the Rev. 
Louis Bcvier Voorhces a graduate of Princeton in 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WORCESTER. 



1867. After occupying the pulpit for six months, a 
nearly unanimous call led to his installation on the 
same day on which liis ]>redecessor was dismissed. 
But neither iu this instance did a change of ministers 
secure the church against the fate whicli so inveter- 
ately pursued its chosen pastors. After preaching for 
a time Mr. Voorhees was compelled to relinquish his 
charge, but his formal dismission did not take place 
till the 5th of May, 1880, when his 8Ucces.sor, the 
Rev. Joseph F. Lovering, was installed as the four- 
teenth pastor of the church and so remained. 

A question had long been in issue between the city 
and the First Parish touching their respective estates 
in the land occupied by the Old South. The city 
claimed the land and wished to remove the building, 
and the parish resisted tlie claim and wished to pre- 
serve the building. Things remained in this condi- 
tion until 1885, when the city obtained from the 
legislature authority to take all the title and interest 
of the parish. In May, 1886, the city council voted 
to take under the act. Thereupon the parish made 
an overture to the city towards an agreement upon ! 
the amount of damages. The city having declined to 
entertain the overture, the parish then proceeded, 
under the provisions of the act, to ask the Superior 
Court for the appointment of commissioners to award 
damages ; and this was done. The case came on to 
be heard in July, 1887, when the city solicitor, 
Frank P. Goulding, appeared for the city, and Sena- 
tor George F. Hoar for the parish. An exhaustive 
preparation and all the legal learning and skill of the 
respective advocates went into the case. After weeks 
of deliberation the commissioners brought in an 
award of $148,400. The city refused to pay the 
award, and under the act claimed a trial by jury. A 
compromise followed resulting in the payment of 
$115,395.25. With this money the parish pur- 
chased a lot on the corner of Main and Wel- 
lington Streets, and proceeded to erect thereon a 
church worthy of its history and rank as the Firs! 
Parisli in the city of Worcester. The corner-stone 
was laid on the 4tli of .July, 1888, and the exterior 
walls, of red sandstone throughout, were substantially 
completed by the end of the year. It is, without 
doubt, the most imposing church edifice in the city. 
A massive central tower, forty feet square and rising 
on four square marble ])illars to the height of one 
hundred and thirty-six feet above the pavement, i> 
the dominating feature. Another feature, appealinj; 
to a different sentiment, is the low belfry at thi 
northeast corner, of architecture curious and fine, in 
which is suspended, as Ihe sole relic connecting new 
and old, the bell (cast in 1802) that swung for eighty- 
five years in the old belfry on the Common. A par- 
ish-house at the rear, adding to the mass and architec- 
tural completeness of the whole structure, contains a 
variety and abundance of spacious apartments suited 
to all the multiplied and multiplying re<iuirements of 
modern church life. The cost of this New Old South 



at its completion is reckoned at one hundrc<l and 
forty thousand dollars. 

The Calvinist or Central Church. — The second 
church of this order was first named the Calvinist 
Church. It was an outcome, but not an outgrowth, 
of the First Church. As we have already seen, the 
settlement of Mr. Goodrich resulted in a serious dis- 
ail'ection towards his ministry. Among the disaf- 
fected and aggrieved were Deacon David IJichards, 
his wife and eight others. In their extremity these 
persons summoned a council (the third) to advise 
tliem in the i)remises. This council was convened 
on the 16th of August, 1820, and having heard the 
case and approved a Confession of Faith and a Cove- 
nant which had been presented, proceeded on the 
17th to constitute the applicants into a separate 
church under the name of the Calvinist Church in 
Worcester. It is worthy of note that the moderator 
of this council was the Rev. Nathaniel Emmons, 
D.D. For a certain length of time the new church 
maintained public worship in private places. The 
house of its first deacon, David Richards, seems to 
have been the first and principal place of worship. 
This house stood near the site recently purchased by 
the United States for the new post-oflBce building. 
In this private way, without any pastor or parish, 
the church held itself together until 1822. In that 
year "articles of association" looking towards a par- 
ish organization were drawn up and signed. The 
first signature was that of Daniel Waldo, under date 
of April od ; others of the same date followed, and 
within the next nine years more than two hundred 
and sixty others were added. On the first Sunday 
following, April 3, 1822, regular public worship was 
commenced in the court-house. This continued until 
October 13, 1823, when the society took possession 
of its meeting-house, which had been erected by Mr. 
Waldo at a cost of fourteen thousand dollars. The 
sermon at the dedication of this house was preached 
by Dr. Austin, who was in sympathy with the new 
church. In the next year the property was conveyed 
to trustees for the use of the church and society. 
Early iu 1825 the organization was perfected by the 
incorporation of the Calvinist Society. Meanwhile, 
on the I5th of April, 1823, the Rev. Loammi Ives 
Hoadly, wlio had supplied preaching for the pre- 
vious year, was ordained as the first pastor. His 
ministry was embarrassed by the unhappy relations 
whicli continued between this church and the Old 
South, but still went on with increasing success until 
a severe sickness brought it to a close. His dismis- 
sion, by a vote of the church, took place on the 19th 
of May, 1829. Recovering in a measure, he engaged 
in various activities, — as pastor again for a brief 
period, editor of The Spirit of the rUgrims, assistant 
editor of the " Comprehensive Commentary," teacher 
and farmer. His last residence was in Northfield, 
Conn., his native place, and there he died quite re- 
cently at the great age of ninety-one, having outlived 



ECCLRSIASTICM, IIISToHV OF WOROKSTER 



•:> 



all his successors in the pulpit of the Calvinist 
Church hut the last two. 

liuriup Mr. HoaiUy's ministry Mr. Waldo made a 
further addition of five thousand dollars to the re- 
sources ot" the society. Its growth continued un- 
checked, and in 18.30, and again in 1832, the church 
editice was variously enlarged and improved. This 
prosperity wits due, in no small degree, to the popu- 
lar ministry of the Rev. .lohn S. C Abbot, who 
became the successor of Mr. Hoadly ou the 2Sth of 
January, 1830. During live years Mr. Abbot con- 
tinued to go in and out among his people with great 
acceptance. While discharging his jiastoral duties, 
he found time to write and publish two books which 
made his name known in both hemispheres. These 
were "The Mother at Home" and "The Child at 
Home," the former of which has been translated and 
published in nearly all the languages of modern 
Europe. In 1835 Mr. Abbot asked and obtained a 
dismission on account of ill health. After recupera- 
tion by a year of travel in Europe, he spent the 
remainder of his verj- active life in various pursuits, 
hut Itecame known to the wide world chieHy as the 
author of many popular books. Mr. Abbot was 
born in Brunswick, Me., and graduated at Bowdoin 
in ISJii. He died at Fair Haven, Conn., on the 17th 
of June, 1877. His successor was the Kev. Uavid 
I'eabody, who was installed in 1835 within si-x 
months after the pulpit had become vacant. His 
ministry was short and much interrupted by ill 
health. In the year following his settlement, under 
the advice of his physicians, he sailed for the 
.South, where he spent the winter. A temporary 
improvement enabled him to resume his pastoral 
duties in Worcester. But the attack on his lungs 
—for that was his malady — again enforced cessa- 
tion from pulpit labor. He imfiroved the time 
in travel. Arriving in Hanover the day after com- 
mencement, he learned to his aurjirise that he had 
been appointed Prcifessnr of Rlietiiric in Darlmoulli 
tJollege, his a/mn mitUi: This, taken with the state 
of his health, determined his course. He obtained a 
dismission from his pastoral charge and in October, 
18;}M, entered upon the duties of his new office. His 
tenure of this, however, was brief. Mis death occurred 
on the 17th of October, IH.'irt, after one year of college 
service much interrupted by illness. The career of 
I'rofewtor I'eabody was as brilliant as it was brief 
His intellectual powers were of a high order. His 
mentiil discipline was thorough, his Heholarsliip line. 
His character wa-< " a rare combination of strength 
and lovelinciMi." With a figure and face of nninly 
beauty and a rich and mellow voii'e, he stoo<l before 
his people in the pulpit a preacher of singular at- 
irnctions. His memory long continued to be fragrant 
in Worce»ter. 

The next paxtor of the Central Cliuri-b was the 
Rev. Seth Swcelser. Hi^ pa.ntorati- covt-red a period 
of forty years. It began on the I'.Hh of Oecember, 



1838, and ended with his decea-se, in 1878. During 
this period, in 1845, occurred the death of Daniel 
Waldo, in a large sense the founder of the society. 
In his will he continued to remember it for good by 
devising to it, in connection with the church, a valu- 
able real estate upon which stood the chapel of the 
society and a dwelling-house. In 1858 occurred the 
first interruption to the prevailing harmony. Until 
then the expenses had been defrayed by a ta.x on the 
polls and estates of the members. Under a new 
statute the expenses were raised by an assessment on 
the pews. This change caused the withdrawal of a 
considerable number of rich and influential members. 
Rut the vital forces of the body soon healed the breach 
and supplied new strength. Forty additional pews 
were provided to help bear the burden of the new tax. 
Dr. Sweetser was not a magnetic preacher ; he had 
not the gift oratorical, but bis compositions for the 
pulpit were of rare finish. He [lublished occasional 
sermons which amply repaiil perusal. On the death 
of President Lincoln he gave a iliscourse which had 
no superior, whether of puljjit or platform, in the whole 
range of productions called forth by that event. It 
was sought for from distant cities and the edition was 
exhausted before the demand was supplied. In his 
last years Dr. Sweetser's health declined until he was 
at length compelled to surrender the pulpit. But 
church and parish were unwilling to sunder the lie 
which had bound them so long together, and though 
his service ceased, his support (not his salary) was 
meiisurably continueil until his death. Dr. Sweetser 
was born at Newburyport in 1807 and graduated at 
Harvard in 1827. For a time he was a tutor in the 
university, ami in after years a member of the Board 
of Overseers. He sustained the same relation to An- 
dover f^eminary. Of the Polytechnic Institute in 
Worcester he was an original corporator and trustee, 
and to it he gave bis best thought and work. Of the 
city hcwiiaan unobtrusive leading citizen, and among 
th(^ clergy of the State he was a power. The bases of 
his intlucnce were wisdom and reserve. 

On the 19th of November, 1874, the Rev. Henry E. 
Barnes, a graduate of Yale in 18()0, was installed as 
junior i>astor. On the 3d of May, 187(), alter a year 
and a half of service, he was dismissed, and soon set- 
tled in Haverhill, Mass., where a large measure id' 
success rewardeil his labors. For nearly two years 
the pulpit was su|>plied by candidates and quasi-can- 
dates. Many were called, but few chosen. Then the 
Rev. Daniel .Merriman, a graduate of Williams Cr)l- 
lege, united all voices in calling him to the vacant 
place. The call was acce|)ted,and in l'"ebruary, 1878, 
he W1U4 iuHlalled, the Rev. Dr. Richard S. .Storrs, of 
Brooklyn, N. Y., preaching the sermon. Within a 
month came the death of Dr. Sweetser. In no long 
time after, the subject of building a new church be- 
gan to be agitated, and foremost in the agitation was 
the new pastor. A conditiinial Hubscrl|ilion was set on 
foot and the re<|uired amount was provided for ; but the 



10 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WORCESTER. 



enterprise developed antagonisms, wliich, in the inter- 
est of peace, made it necessary and certain that one 
party or the other should and would withdraw. Accord- 
ingly, four-fifths of the trustees, all but one of the dea- 
cons, the men whose money had been chiefly relied uu, 
and a large Isody of others, old and young, quietly left 
their church home of a generation, voluntarily sur- 
rendered all the property and dispersed themselves 
among the other churches. But Providence, " from 
seeming evil still educinfi; good," inspired the crip- 
pled church with courage to arise and build, and the 
result was one of the most beautiful churches in the 
city or elsewhere. It stands as a conspicuous monu- 
ment of the recuperative power of a Christian democ- 
racy under adverse conditions. At its completion no 
root of bitterness remained to bear evil fruit, and 
those who withdrew and those who remained sat 
amicably side by side at the dedication of the new 
house. Its beauties were afterwards celebrated by 
the graceful pen of Prof Churchill in the Andover 
Review. 

Tlie Union Church. — In the autumn of IX'.'A a few 
young men, chiefly from the Old South Church, con- 
spicuous among whom was Ichabod Washburn, laid 
their plans for a new church. The need of it had 
been felt for several years, and it seemed to them that 
the time to act had fully come. Accordingly, the 
preliminary steps were taken, and on the 11th of 
March, 1835, they were duly incorporated under the 
name and style of the " Proprietors of the Union 
Meeting-house." At a meeting held in December of 
the same year it was voted that the name of the new 
church should be " The Union Church." In January, 
1836, Articles of P'aith and a Covenant were unani- 
mously adopted, and on the 3d of February follow- 
ing a council constituted the new church with the 
customary formalities. On the 5th of March the 
society held its first meeting, and on the 6th of July 
its new house of worship was dedicated. It was a 
plain brick structure of !•<• feet by 54, situated on 
Front Street, opposite the historic Common. Made 
more commodious iu 1845-46, it was superseded in 
1880 by a more beautiful but not more spacious edi- 
fice erected on the same site. The first pastor of the 
Union Church was the Rev. Jonathan E. Woodbridge. 
His installation took place on the 24lh of November, 
1836. His ministry began when the anti-slavery 
movement was burning its way through the churches. 
Union Church did not escape. Mr. Woodbridge took 
one side and the society took the other on the ques- 
tion of opening the church to anti-slavery lectures. 
On the 19th of January, 1838, the society, by a vote 
of forty-five to twelve, decided to open the house to 
the famous anti-slavery agitators, .James G. liirncy 
and Henry B. Stanton. Mr. Woodbridge thereupon 
promptly tendered his resignation, and on the 2d of 
February the society as promptly accepted it, and 
called a council to dissolve the relation between them. 
The first call to this pastorate, though unanimous on 



the part of church and parish, had been declined 
by Mr. Woodbridge. Upon a second and more urgent 
call he had consented to come, only to discover in 
one short year that he and his people could never 
agree on the great divisive question of the day. His 
dismission took place on the 14th of February. After 
leaving Worcester he became more widely known 
to the churches as editor of the New Eufjland Puri- 
tan, afterwards made one with the Boston Recorder 
under the name of the Puritan Recorder. The second 
pastor of the Union Church was the Rev. Elam 
Smalley, who was installed on the 19th of September. 
1838. For nine years previous he had been associate 
pastor with the Rev. Nathaniel Emmons, D.l)., of 
Franklin. Doubtless he had profited by such a long 
association with that remarkable divine, but no two 
persons could be more unlike in their mental charac- 
teristics. Reasoning, so eminently characteristic of 
the Franklin doctor, was not Dr. Smalley 's forte or 
aspiration. He sought rather to edify by pleasing. 
If he did not prophesy smooth things, he yet prophe- 
sied iu a smooth way. What he aimed at he accom- 
plished. The church was built up, and his ministry 
of fifteen years was a success. The society testified 
its appreciation by repeated additions to his salary. 
In due time he was decorated with the doctorate of 
divinity. After seven years the meeting-house was 
altered so as to secure one hundred additional sittings, 
while Deacon Ichabod Washburn at his own cost 
provided a vestry and Sunday-school room in the 
basement. In 1844 the society accepted from the 
" Proprietors of the Union Meeting-house '' a deed of 
all their corporate property and assumed all their 
corporate liabilities. On the 8th of May, 1854, Dr. 
Smalley asked a dismission, in order " to enter another 
field of labor." The request was granted, and he 
shortly after became the pastor of the Third Street 
Presbyterian Church in Troy, N. Y., and there, on the 
30th of July, 1858, he died. In 1851 he published 
"The Worcester Pulpit, with Notices Biographical 
and Historical." The plan of the work included a 
sketch of each church and pastor in each denomina- 
tion, with specimen sermons. It is a valuable source 
of information touching tlie churches of Worcester. 
The Rev. J. W. Wellman, a graduate and afterwards 
a trustee of Dartmouth, was the next choice of Union 
Church. He justified their choice by declining the 
call t'rom a sense of duty to the obscurer church of 
which he was then the pastor. Dr. Wellman at a 
later day became conspicuous as the only trustee of 
Andover Theological Seminary who resisted the " new 
departure." Failing to secure him, the church next 
extended a call to the Rev. Ebenezer Cutler, of St. 
Albans, Vt. The call was accepted and the pastor- 
elect was installed on the 6th of September, 1855. 
At the same time a subscription for a pastor's library 
was set on foot which resulted in a substantial sum 
for that essential but much-neglected furnishing of a 
' church. In 1859 began a series ofetibrts, continuing 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OK WORCESTER. 



11 



through several years, for either the enlargement of 
the old or the building of a new house of worship. 
Votes were passed to mortgage, to sell the old house, 
to examine sites, to build a new house, to raise money 
by subscri|>tii>n. An abiding feeling that the church 
was not well housed for doing its most effective work 
lay at the bottom of these spasmodic etforts. But out 
of it all the chief thing realized at the time was only 
a small addition to the rear for the organ and choir. 
The new church was still in the future. Dr. Cutler 
continued his ministry with growing reputation until 
18().">, when he w:is elected president of Vermont Uni- 
versity. This called fcirth an urgent appeal from his 
people not to leave them, and he consequently de- 
clined the flattering oti'er. Shortly after, he received 
a tender of the Professorship of Ecclesiastical History 
in Hartford Theological Seminary, but this also he 
promptly put aside without waiting for it to take for- 
mal shape. In the autumn of 1874 he initiated tin- 
proceedings which resulted in the organization of the 
Worcester Congregational Club, of which he became 
the first president. The subsequent history of the 
club amply vindicated itself an<l him. In the winter 
of 1877 a bronchial trouble compelled him to seek 
relief in other climates. First going to Florida, and 
in the summer to Europe, he w.is absent from his 
pulpit until the following October, when he resumed 
preaching, though not fully recovered. Early in 
1878, under stress of circumstancea, he finally resigned 
his pulpit, retaining, however, his office. The pas- 
toral relation was notdiasolved until the 11th of Octo- 
ber, 1880, just before the installation of his successor. 
The council, in dismissing him, made mention of his 
"wide usefulness ' and "profound scholarship," and 
gave him the name of "a Christian man without fear 
and without reproach." He continued to worship 
with the Union Church which subsofpiently testified 
its affection and esteem by honoring 'him with the 
title of pmtnr emeritus. 

For nearly two years the Rev. George H. Gould. 
L).D., supplied the pulpit in connection with the 
teslingof candidates by preaching. During this period 
the new church, so long de«ire<l and so long delayed, 
was erected on the old site'. As already remarked, it 
was a more beautiful though less capacious edifice 
than the old one. The cost was thirty-seven thousand 
five hundreil dollars. A new organ of fine quality 
and appearance added to the attractions. The dedi- 
cation of the house took place on Sunday, the luth 
day of (Jctober, IHXO, on which occasion the sermon 
wa* preached by the Kev. Henry -A. Stimson, the 
pastor-eh^ct. On the Mth, Mr. Stimson wiw duly 
installed. He was a graduate of Yale, and came 
to his new charge from a highly successful ministry 
in Minneapolis. His ministry in Woni-sler wan dis- 
tiiiguishc-d by n-markably energetic parochial work. 
The young were especially soon made to feel of how 
much church work they, too, were capable. 'I"he print- 
ing-prtwi wan brought into play, and a Sunday bulletin 



was issued every week. The service of song was 
extended and enriched. And by the plan of free 
seats on Sunday evenings the poor had the gospel 
preached to them. Large congregations rewarded 
these efforts, large additions to thechurch followed. In 
the midst of, perhaps because of, this marked success 
Dr. Stimson received a call from the church in St. 
Louis of which the lamented Dr. Constans L. Goodell 
had been pastor, and he decided it to be his duty to 
accept the call. His dismission, much to the sorrow 
of his people, took place in June, 1886. The present 
pastor, Rev. William V. W. Davis, was installed as 
his successor on the 1.3th of April, 1887. He was a 
graduate of Andierst in the class of 1873, had his 
first settlement in Manchester, N. H., and was called 
to Worcester from the Euclid Avenue Presbyterian 
Church in Cleveland, Ohio. Within the first year of 
his ministry one hundred members were added to 
the chundi. The present nienibersliip is live hundred 
and thirty-four. 

Salem Street Church. — This church wa.s the result of 
a joint contribution of men and means from the ()ld 
South the Calvinist and the Union Churches. The 
rapid growth of the city from 1840 to 1848 had im- 
pressed the pastors and brethren of those churches 
with a conviction that the time had come for the 
organization of a fourth church of their way. Meas- 
ures were accordingly taken in 1847 for the erection 
of a church edifice. Meanwhile the persons enlisted 
in the new enterprise held ])relimiiiary meetings, 
adopted a creed and covenant, and on the Mth of 
June, 184.'^, were recognized as a church" in a formal 
manner. ( >f the one hundred and thirty rthree who 
constituted the membership, eighty went out from 
the Union Church, thirty from the Calvinist Church 
and the rest mostly from the Olil South. The new 
church had its place of worship in the city hall until 
the llith of December, 1848, when the new house, 
which had been erected on Salem Street, was dedi- 
cated. The cost was somewhat less than twenty- 
eight thousand dollars ; the money was collected out 
of the three spon.sorial churches. On the day fol- 
lowing the dedication occurred the ordination of the 
Rev. (ieorgc Hushnell, and his installation as the 
first pastor of the church. The sermon on this occa- 
sion was preached by his brother, the Rev. Horace 
Hushnell, D.D. Mr. Hushnell was a graduate of 
Yale in 1842, and had his theological education at 
Auburn and .New Haven. He prosecuted his minis- 
try with great satisfaction to liis parishioners for nine 
years, and then found it prudent, because of impaired 
health, to withdraw from pastoral labor. Ity accept- 
ing the position of superintendent of public schools 
in Worcester he hoped to regain his health. How- 
ever, after nearly a year of this labor it seemed e.vpe- 
dient to lay down his pastoral charge, and he was 
accordingly ilismisseil on the ■J7tli of .January, l.'S.'iK. 
Prior to this date the church hail taken action at 
snudry times to provide a new pastor. On the 2.Sd 



12 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WOKCESTEE. 



of June, 1857, a vote was passed by a small majority 
to call the Rev. Merrill Richardson, of Terryville, Ct. ; 
then at the same meeting the matter was indefinitely 
postponed. On the 9th of November, by a nearly 
unanimous vote, a call was extended to the Rev. Eli 
Thuraton, of Fall River, which, however, was de- 
clined by him. On the 21st of December the church 
again voted to call Mr. Richardson, and the society 
concurred in the call. To this action, however, there 
was serious (ii)i>osition, which found expression before 
the council convened to install him. The council, 
nevertheless, while giving respectful heed to the re- 
monstrants, of whom there were forty-eight, pro- 
ceeded with the business before them, and on the 27th 
of .January, 1858, Mr. Richardson was installed as 
pastor of the Salem Street Church. After this un- 
toward beginning he went forward with his ministry 
for twelve years. Then, on the 27th of September, 
1870, he was dismissed at his own request, because 
his eyes had failed him for purposes of study. " When 
he came there was a storm, but when he went away 
there was a clear sky." In two months after, he was 
settled over the New England ('ongregational Church 
in the city of New York ; and in two years after that 
he became pastor of the church in Milford, Mass. 
His death occurred in December, 1870. It was said: 
" He gave the church uniting power, and a certain 
healthiness of spiritual life." It was said again: 
" He was a warrior and a child ; he was rough and 
gentle." And again it was said : " He sought to pro- 
duce everywhere the peace of God in Jesus Christ." 
But it was a:lso said by the late Judge Chapin, a 
leader of the Unitarians and at one time president 
of the American Unitarian Convention : " Mr. Rich- 
ardson is a good enough Unitarian for me." These 
testimonies are all to be considered in forming an 
estimate of the minister who won the Salem Street 
pulpit with so much difficulty, but who, having won 
it, kept it undisturbed till he chose to give it up. 

On the 8lh of March, 1871, the Rev. Charles M. 
Lamson, of North Bridgewater, received a unanimous 
call from both church and parish. In his letter of 
acceptance he said that he viewed it as " a call to a 
work rather than to a place," and in this spirit he pros- 
ecuted his ministry. His installation took place on 
the 3d of May. In .June he was api)ointed chairman 
of a committee to revise the church standards and to 
prepare a now manual. On May 1, 1872, the creed 
as re-written by the committee was reported and 
unanimously adopted. It would be a just description 
to say that it was the old creed liberated from the old 
straitness, ami some might think front the old straight- 
ness, even. Entire harmony and deepening aftection 
between Mr. Lamson and his people, increasing in- 
fluence within the city and widening reputiition 
without, marked his ministry from the beginning to 
the end. After more than fourteen years of service 
he felt admonished by the state of his health to ask 
a dismission. Very sorrowfully his people yielded to 



his wish, and on the 28th of September, 188tj, his dis- 
mission was declared in a result of council, which 
expressed in tones of rare encomium the appreciation 
of his clerical brethren. After a year and more the 
Rev. Isaac J. Lansing, of Brooklyn, N. Y., was called 
to the vacant pulpit. The call was unanimous, save 
for a single vote. Mr. Lansing was a minister of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. He wiis content with 
its doctrines, but dissatisfied with its polity. He dis- 
liked its three years' limitation of ministerial labor. 
He preferred the Congregational permanency. The 
call to Salem Street was opportune and he at once 
signified his acceptance. The installation took place 
on the 11th of November, 188i;. The loss of Jlr. Lam- 
son, and the loss of members because of that loss 
and also because of their nearness to other churches 
had greatly reduced the prosperity of the Salem 
Street Church. To the work of its recovery and en- 
largement Mr. Lansing brought all his methodist 
energy and forth-putting. He devised liberal things, 
all of which, however, he could not at once bring to 
pass. But a debt of five thousand dollars was paid 
otr, and the meeting-house was renovated and re- 
.seated at an expense of about eight thousand dollars 
more. Once more it was filled with an old-time con- 
gregation. In August, 1888, a unique departure was 
initiated. At its own motion and its own cost, with- 
out aid from the parish treasury, the church deter- 
mined to provide an assistant minister for service 
over and above and outside of the pastor's proper 
work. This plan was carried into effect on the 18th 
of October, by the engagement of the Rev. William 
W. Sleeper. Several definite lines of activity were 
contemplated. The new minister, a thoroughly edu- 
cated musician, was to take in hand the musical train- 
ing of the congregation. He was to have a large 
Bible-class of the young men. He was to act as a 
missionary in the highways and hedges. And he was 
to do service at funerals and minister consolation to 
such as had no pastor to call upon. At the opening 
of the year 1889 this new and varied work was in suc- 
cessful progress; while, as an important reinforcement 
for its more pronounced success, the church had in 
that year secured the services of Prof. Benjamin D. 
Allen, who for thirty-four years had been the organist 
of Union Church. 

Summer Street Mmioii Chapel. — This church had its 
origin in the benevolent heart of Ichabod Washburn. 
To provide " the benefits of moral and religious in- 
struction and restraint for a pretty numerous class of 
persons, living in Worcester," was his aim. Accord- 
ingly he had erected, at his own exjiense, and caused 
to be dedicated in the spring of 1855, a Mission 
Chapel on Summer Street in that city. At the same 
time he made provision for the free ministry of the 
gospel to all who should resort to the chapel for such 
a privilege. The first minister employed in this ser- 
vice was the Rev. William T. Sleeper, then the city 
missionarv. His term of service closed with the close 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WORCESTER. 



1:5 



of the year IS06. Rev. Samuel Souther, a graduate 
of Dartmouth in 1842, followed him and remained 
until I.StiS, when he enlisted as a i>riv:ite in the army 
of the Union and gave up his life on the haltle-field. 
Under his ministry an Industrial School was organ- 
ized in Decemlier, 18i>7. In 1SG4 tlie Rev. Henry T. | 
Cheever, a graduate of Bowdoin in 1834, succeeded 
to the ministry of the .Mission Chapel. Through his 
inspiration 11 movement was begun for the formation 
of a church, and on December 2.'i, lSi>4, eighteen 
persons constituted themselves the " Church of the 
Summer Street Mi&sion Chapel," by the adoption of 
a Confession of Faith and a Covenant and the elec- 
tion of deacons and a clerk. On the 22d of .Tanuary, 
18G0, the church wa.s received into the fellowshii) of 
the churches by public "services of recognition held 
by a council in Union Church. On the 3d of April 1 
the church " constituted itself a religious society " or 
parish, " according to the statutes of the Common- 
wealth, under the name of "The Society of the Sum- 
mer Street Jlission Chapel." In March, 18t>t5, Deacon 
Wtishburn e.xecuted his will and made ample provi- 
sion therein for the perpetual maintenance of this 
charitable foundation. The Mission Chapel estate 
was devised to the Union Society, in trust, " for the 
purposes and trusts declared in the will, and no 
other." In addition, the sum of twenty thousand 
dollars was given for defraying the expenses of main- 
taining a minister and public worship, and a further 
sum of tive thousand dollars to maintain the Indus- 
trial School connected therewith. By the decease of 
Deacon Washburn on the 30th of December, 18G8, 
these gifts became operative. Mr. Cheever continued 
to be the minister of the Mission Chapel until the 
1st of April, 1873, when Mr. Sleeper was a|ipoinleii 
to his ])lace by the joint action of two deacons of 
the Union Church and two of the Mission Chapel 
Church, in accordance with the provisions of the 
will. On tlie 2t)lh of .January, ]88i!, the trustees 
voted that it was expedient to sell the Summer Street 
property and locate the church elsewhere. This 
action was in harmony with the views and wishes of 
the Mission t'burch and its minister. But it was 
strenuously resisted by the former minister, Mr. 
Cheever, and by the widow of Deacon Washburn, 
on the ground that it was in violation of the letter 
and intent of liis will and in defeasance of the obji'ct 
which he had at heart, 'i'he question went up to the 
Supreme Court by petition of the trustees for leave 
to sell and was decided in their favor.' The founder 
of this im|iortatit charity begati his life in Worcester | 
as a workman for daily wagc-s. At the close of his 
life he left an estjite of more than half a million of 
dollars nccumulated by his own industry ami rare | 
sagacity. The bulk of thi« great wealth he devoted 

< Th« writar ta anlhentlcally InformM OtU ft I* titr imrpow of Mra. | 
Waaliljiim to contnat (Ite Mte at tli* prosier Uitif^ un <Im> ifr'xiiifl tlinl 
iiieb mI« would d««troy "tli9 uitlAmrntArv tifti ••f ilii. Indtmirlnl 
Ocbnol un lh> Mialon Cliaivl " 



to the good uf his fellow-men. All along the path- 
way of his life he was setting up monuments of liis 
niiniilicence, while his testamentary gifts for .school 
anil church and hospital far exceeded those of his 
life-time or those of any previous benefactor of the 
city. 

Plymouth Clittrrh. — The beginning of this church 
was in 18(li). More than twenty years had passed since 
the last (Inirch of this faith an<i order had been organ- 
ized. In that time the city had grown from sixteen 
thousand to forty thousand inhabitants. The churches 
were crowded ; it had become difficult to obtain seats; 
some, even, through failure to do so, had gone into 
the Methodist fold. Under these circumstances, 
fifteen young men met together in a private room to 
confer respecting a new church. They had acted 
together in the Voung .Men's Christian Association, 
had thus become acquainted with each other, and said 
it would be a good thing if they could have a Young 
Men's Christian As.sociation church. They formed a 
nucleus around which other young men gathered. 
.Soon the circle ol' interested persons widened and 
came to include older men and men of substance. 
Then the enteri)rise rapidly gathered headway. The 
first meeting was held on the 15th of April, 18G9. On 
the 29th it was announced that Mechanics Hall had 
been secured for i)ul)lic worship during one year. 
Forthwith a subscription of three thousand three 
hundred and forty dollars Wius made by sixty-three 
persons to defray the current expenses; and within a 
week or two the sum was raised to about three thou- 
sand eight hundred dollars. A Sunday .school em- 
bracing more than three hundred was at once begun, 
and on the second Sunday in May public worship was 
held in Mechanics Hall with preaching by Rev. Dr. 
IC. B. Webb of Boston. On the same evening a meet- 
ing was held to take measures for organizing a church. 
A committee was charged with the duty of preparing 
and |iresenling a creed and covenant. When the time 
came for action thereon difliculties were encountered. 
.\mong others, the Rev. George Allen, who had pro- 
posed to become a member of the church, rose and 
gave his voice against the adoption of any creed what- 
ever. Failing to convince the meeting he recalled 
his letter of recommendation and witlidrew from any 
further connection with the enterprise. At a subse- 
quent meeting the articles of the creed jis reported 
were largely changed and then adopted. The question 
of a name came up. Edward A. Ooodnow, the largest 
giver, and nmny others were in favor of making it a 
free church. Mr. ( iomlnow, therefore, moved that the 
name be the " Free ( 'ongregational ('hiircli," atid to 
make it free he subsequently subscribed one thousand 
live hundred dollars a year to pay for the ball. His 
aitsociates, however, were not yet prepared for the 
meiwurc, and instead of that name voted that the 
name be "Sixth ("ongregational ('hiirch." Meiinwbile, 
a society had been organi/.ed by the name of the I'lyni- 
onlb Socictv, and the church afterwards made its 



14 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WORCESTER. 



own name conform to that. On the 7th of July a 
council assembled in the Old South meeting-house to 
assist in organizing and recognizing the new church. 
With a recommendation to amend the 4th article of 
the creed they proceeded to the performance of their 
functions. Of the one hundred and ninety- four 
persons proposing to be of the church, one hundred 
and twent}'-seven were then present and were duly 
constituted the Sixth Congregational Church. A 
week later fifty-one of the remainder were received 
into the membership. Four deacons having been 
elected; and a communion and baptismal service 
having been presented by Mr. Goodnow and his wife, 
Catherine B. (loodnow, on the 5th of September the 
church celebrated its first communion. From that 
time onward a great variety of preachers occupied the 
pulpit until April, 1S70, when the Rev. Nelson Millard, 
of Brooklyn, N. Y., received a call to become the 
pastor. The call was declined on the ground that 
continuous preaching in so large a hall would cause 
too serious a strain on the physical powers of the 
preacher. On the 2Gth of October a unanimous call 
was declined by the Rev. William J. Tucker, now the 
distinguished professor at Andover, perhaps for the 
same reason. A practically unanimous call of the 
Rev. B. F. Hamilton met with the same fate. Mean- 
while the future pastor of Plymouth Church, the Rev. 
George W. Phillips, of Columbus, Ohio, had been 
heard in its pulpit for the first time at Christmas in 
1870. After this experience had been repeated at 
intervals through the following year, he accepted a 
call and was installed on the 28th of December, 1871. 
A condition of his acceptance wa.s that the society 
should build a church edifice. Accordingly funds and 
a site were the next things in order. In April, 1872, 
the site was fixed by a vote to build on the ground 
where the church now stands. This action split 
church and parish in two. The soreness of the wound 
however, was soon assuaged, and both halves continued 
to live as two wholes with a two-fol<l prosperity and 
usefulness. F'ifty-six members received a peaceable 
dismission and straightway with others proceeded to 
organize a church in the more southern part of the 
city. The load became heavier on Plymouth Church 
but the sturdy shoulders under it did not succumb. 
On the 2(Jth of April, 1873, the corner-stone was laid ; 
on the 19th of April, 1874, the chapel was dedicated 
for use; and on the 2S)th of April, 1873, the entire 
edifice was done and dedicated. It is a structure of 
granite, witli perhaps a larger seating capacity than 
that of any other church in the city, having seats for 
the comfortable accommodation of fourteen hundred 
persons. Its cost, including recent decorative imjirove- 
ments, has somewhat exceeded one hundred and fifty 
thousaud dollars. In 1881 sixty-six thousand dollars 
of this cost still rested as a debt upon the Plymouth 
property and people. It was determined to obtain 
relief from the incubus by effecting, if possible, a 
large reduction f>f this debt. Suddenly, in the rnonlli 



of April, Edward Kimball, of Chicago, the good 
genius of debt-burdened churches, appeared before 
the congregation to assist. While the matter was 
thus in hand, Kdward A. ffoodnow sent in a written 
proposition that if the debt were not merely reduced 
but extinguished he would make a gift to Plymouth 
of an organ and a chime, each to cost five thousand 
dollars. Under this incentive, coupled with Mr. Kim- 
ball's inspiration, the elliirt was redoubled, the debt 
was extinguished, and chime and organ were put in 
place, at a cost to the giver of nearly eleven thousand 
dollars. The chime was made a memorial of his 
deceased wife, for whom the chu rch had before held a 
special commemorative service, by the inscription on 
the principal bell — In AFemoriam Cciherine B. G'oothwic. 
After a successful pastorate of more than fourteen 
years Dr. Phillips, at his own request, w:i.s dismissed 
on the 10th day of May, 1880, and immediately settled 
as pastor of the important church in Rutland, Vt. 
On the 30th of June, in the same year, Plymouth 
Church and Society extended a unanimous call to the 
Rev. Arthur Little, D.I)., of Chicago. The call was 
declined, and the church remained without a pastor 
until April 7, 1887, when the Rev. Charles Wadsworlh, 
Jr., of Philadelphia, was installed. In May of the 
next year he resigned his office on the ground that he 
had accepted a call to a Presbyterian (Uiurcli in fSan 
Francisco. The church was quite unreconciled to 
this sudden bereavement, but yielded to it under 
protest. However, the council called to dissolve the 
tie advised against it. This led to a reconsideration 
which resulted in a cordial re-establishment of the old 
relation. As the year 1888 wore on, however, the 
church was admonished by the failing health of its 
reinstated pastor that if it would keeji him something 
must be done for his relief. Accordingly, in .lanuary, 
1889, the parish voted to have, and provide for, a 
pastor's assistant. In this matter the Ladies' Benevo- 
lent Society had taken the initiative by assuming an 
obligation to pay one-half of whatever salary the 
parish should fix upon. By way of further relief, the 
pastor's annual vacation was doubled and a large 
, addition made to his salary. In making these anxious 
and liberal provisions Plymouth Church felt justified 
1 by the magnitude of the work upon its hands. With 
i the costliest church edifice of its order in the city 
1 and the largest church membership and no church 
debt and a constituency " rich and increased in goods," 
' it was in a position both to devise and to execute 

liberal things. 
j Piedmont Congregational Churrh. — In the sketch 
of Plymouth Church it was stated that fifty-six 
members of that body were dismissed for the (lurpose 
of forming a church in the soiitbern part of the city. 
This w;is the origin of Piedmont Church. The first 
steps were taken at an informal meeting held on the 
3(1 of May, 1872. On the 10th of the same month it 
was resolved to organize a parish and purchase a lot 
on the corner of Main and Piedmont Streets. On the 



ECCLKSIASTK'AI- HFSTOHY OF WOKCKSTKU 



15 



Kith the lot had been purchased and fifty-nine per- 
:ionB hail signed an agreement to become a religious 
society. On the 23d the associates assembled under 
a warrant and organized the society according to law. 
On the ;^nth the name of " Piedmont Congregational 
Church " was adopted. The corporate name, how- 
ever, roiuinued to be the "Seventh Congregational 
Church in Worcester." On the tith ol' June by-laws 
were adopted whereby " any person '' proposed and 
elected by the major vote might become a member of 
the society. On the 14th the first subscription was 
made among those present at the meeting, and a sum 
of lifteen thousand dollars was pledged. Plans were 
adopted .\ugust 2.'!d, and by September "ilUh the sub- 
scription had increased to twenty-four thousand dol- 
lars. >[eantime, on the '2d of June, the first public 
religious service had been held in the Main 
.Street Baptist Church. In the same place a 
council was organized, on the 18th of .Sejitem- 
ber following, for the purpose of constituting the 
church. The confes-sion of faith, covenant and 
all preliminaries being found satisfactory, the church 
was duly constituted by the council. The sermon 
was preached by the Kev. George H. (Jould, D.l)., 
who remained as acting |>astor fri>m that date until 
1S77. In < )ctober ground was broken for tlie ilinrch 
foundation, which, by contract, wius to be linished by 
the Ist of June, 1873. In ilue time the basement was 
completed and occupied for public worship during 
the period in which the superstructure was being 
finished. < >n the 1st of February, 1877, the audi- 
torium was ready for occupation. It has a seating 
capacity of one thousand one hundred and twenty. 
The building is one of the largest church edifices in 
the city, and through improvements, chiefly of a 
ilecorative character made in 1888 at a cost of ten 
tliuiisand ilollars, is one of the most attractive. The 
original cnst of lanil and construction lias been set at 
one liundri-d and thirty thousaml dollars. A fine 
organ, the gift of Clinton M. Dyer and wife, was 
place<l io the organ-loft in 1884, at a cost, incluilinga 
complete apparatus for blowing it by water-power, of 
about si.x lliousan<l five hundred rlollars. With the 
completion of the building came the first and only 
pastor, Kev. havid O. .Mears, D.I)., who was installed 
on the .">d of .Inly, 1877. Under his ministry church 
and parish kept pace with the most progressive. His 
reputation went abroad beyontl Worcester, so that 
several doors were opened to him elsewhere. In I8S.'J 
he was invited to lake the pr<'sidency of Iowa Col- 
lege. This, after careful consideration, he declined 
lu he did also the pastorales of several liiiportaiit 
churchei to which he had been invited. 

/'ark Congregatioital C'/mrrh. — The beginning of 
this church wat a Sabbath -school gathereil by a 
woman. To (.ydia .\. (^tiddings the praise is iliie. 
.Moiig with and reinforcing her activity came that of 
the city missionary, the Kev. Albert iSryaiit, This 
was in the autumn of 1884. I'resentlv a council ail- 



vised the establishment of a church and measures 
were taken accordingly. In May, 188'i, the first ser- 
mon wa-s preached in .\gricultural Hall by the Kev. 
J. V. Lovering, pastor of the Old South. The labor- 
ing oar was now placed in the bands of the Rev. Dr. 
.\. K. P. Perkins, a resident minister without charge. 
Pliroiigli his eflicient labors, with those of his coml- 
Jutors, such progress was made that in the summer of 
188tj.a commodious chapel had been erected, and on 
the 26th of September was dedicated. The land for 
the site, on the corner of Kim and Russell Streets, 
was the gift of David Whltcomb. Including this, 
the whole cost was about nine thousand dollars. 
The title of the properly is In the City Missionary So- 
ciety. On the 24tli of February, 1887, the church 
was constituted and at the same time the Rev. George 
S. Pelton, formerly of Omaha, was installed as its 
first pastor. At first a Society was organized on the 
old double-headed plan ; but after nearly one year of 
church life passed in tliis way Park Church took 
advantage of the general law for the incorporation of 
churches enacted in 1887, and on the 17th of Janu- 
ary, 1888, took on corporate powers and became 
itself a parish. Both men and women were named 
among the corporators, and both were made responsi- 
ble for the "government of the body" so far as they 
were '' legal voters.'' The aim was to make impossi- 
ble the old-time antagonism of church and parish. 
This the .scheme assured. But just as under the old 
Congregational way, so now, there still remained two 
bodies In Park Church — a spiritual body independent 
of law aii<l an artificial body subject to law. 

Pilgrim Conf/regntioiia/ Cliurcli. — The origin of 
this church was in marked contrast with that of the 
Plymouth and Piednumt Churches. While they 
sprang into existence as it were fiill-giown and dis- 
played masculine vigor from the first. Pilgrim Church 
had a childhood. It wa.s, in a sense, the child of the 
City Mlssuinary Society. That society e.\plorcd the 
ground and prepare<l the way and supplied the first 
preaching. Because of llial society it came to exist 
when and where it did. Ii first became visible in 
the form of a diminutive Sunday-school, at No. (j 
Hancock Street, on the PUli of .May, 1883. Mrs. 
Fannie M. Bond, a city iiilssioiiary, had gathered a 
little flock, ami Mrs. Faiinic II. .Migliill, whose warm 
co-operation had been secured, opened her doors for 
Its reception. At this first meeting exactly ten 
.schedars were present, of whom five had never before 
been in a Sunday scliocd. By the Sth of July the 
ten had become a crowd and Woiidland street school- 
house was secured for Its accommodatiiui. In live 
years it had grown to nearly six hundred members. 
(Jn the 1st of July, 1884, the school received the gift 
of a lot of land from .Mr. F. B. Knowles, of Pied- 
mont Church, and Mrs. Helen ( '. Knowles, of rnioii 
('liiirch. The same persons, with others, contributed 
money fur the building of a chapel which was lin- 
ished and occupied on the 2r>tli of .lanuary, 1880. 



16 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WORCESTER. 



Wlien completed it was the first of six houses of 
worship now (1888) standing between Piedmont 
Street and New Worcester. On the 16th of Novem- 
ber, 1884, the Rev. Charies M. iSouthgate began pas- ' 
toral worlc. He was a graduate of Yale in the class ! 
of 1861), and came to Worcester from a pastorate of 
nine years with the Congregational Church in Ded- i 
ham. Under tlie fresh impulse imparted by him the i 
enterprise went rajiidly I'orward in the way of its en- j 
largenient and consummation. On tlie 19th of i 
March, 1885, the church, embracing eighty-eight 
members, was organized, and at the same time the 
pastor was installed. On the 19th of August, 1887, 
ground was broken for the new church edifice, and 
on the 1st of July, 1888, it was dedicated. It .stands 
on the corner of Main and (Jardner Streets, is one of 
the most attractive churches in tlie city, and, with the 
other property, is valued at one hundred and ten 
thousand dollars. The auditorium has more tlian 
one thousand and fifty sittings, while the rooms de- 
voted to the Sunday school accommodate more than 
six hundred person.s. The sociely connected with 
this cliurcli was incorporated on tlie 13tli of April, 
1885. The by-laws provide that all male adult mem- 
bers of the church shall, and "any" adult members 
may, become members of the society. 

Three things distinguish this from other Congrega- 
tional Churches, and probably from all other churches 
in the city. The first is, the (^liurch and parish 
status. By requiring adult male members of the 
church to become members of the parish and mem- 
bers of the parish to be members of the church, it 
was designed, as in Park Church, among other things, 
to make antagonism between the two bodies impossi- 
ble. One further thing seems essential to the com- 
plete success of this i)lan, and that is, to require all 
female, as well as male, adult members of the church 
to become members also of the parish. Without this, 
antagonism, however improbable, is nevertheless 
I)os3ible. The second distinguishing thing is the 
unique and admirable provision for the accommoda- 
tion of the Sunday school. A spacious primary 
room, parlor and ten separate class-rooms have been 
so arranged that each can be shut off from the rest 
during the study of the lesson and then all thrown 
into one again for the general exercises. The third 
thing is the provision for the secular side of this 
church organization. The first chapel was moved to 
one side, named Pilgrim Hall, and fitted up with 
rooms for a gymnasium, carpenter's shop, boys' read- 
ing room, hall for social purposes and a kitchen. In 
this Hall the healthful secular life of Pilgrim Church 
goes on through all the secular days of the week. 
The membership of this church at the close of the 
year (1888) was two hundred and fifty. 

Church of the Covenant, — This church is an anom- 
aly of Congregationalism. At present it is tripartite, 
but it may become quadrupartite and indefinitely 
more. Under one church organization there are thus 



far three " sections," each in a different part of the 
city. The names of these are, the Houghton Street 
Section, South Worcester Section and Lake View 
Section. Eich section is an inchoate church, having 
some, but not all the powers of a Congregational 
Church. The peculiar organization grew out of the 
needs of the chapel congregations in charge of the 
City Missionary Society. Upon the incorporation of 
this society, in 1883, the congregations at South Wor- 
cester and Lake View came un<ler its care. On the 
lilth of ()ctol)er, 1884, it organized a Sunday school 
in the neighborhood of Houghton Street, and on the 
15th of October, 1885, dedicated the Houghton Street 
Chapel. In the chapel a council assembled on the 
10th of December following to organize the church. 
.Vt an adjourned meeting of the council held in the 
vestry of Piymouth Church, on the 22d of December, 
the business in hand wa-s completed by the public re- 
cognition of the Church of the Covenant. Li .lanu- 
ary, 188G, there were forty communicants in all the 
sections, of whom more than one half were in the 
Houghton Street Section. 

Due provision was made for the practical working 
of this anomalous church. It was placed under the 
"pastoral care'' of the City Missionary Society, with 
the city mi.s.sionary, Rev. Albert Bryant, for its pastor. 
Each section was to manage its own sectional att'airs. 
The pastor of the church was to be the pastor of the 
section and preside at all its meetings. He was to 
perform all pastoral, pulpit and sacramental duties 
for each separately. There was to be a secretary of 
the section and a clerk of the church, the former of 
whom was to transmit his record of sectional doings 
to the latter for permanent record. Each section was 
to elect one deacon or more, and the sectional deacons 
were collectively to be the deacons of the church. 
Any section might admit and dismiss members of its 
own body, but the duty of issuing letters of dismis- 
sion and recommendation was laid upon the clerk. 
The discipline of its own members was placed exclu- 
sively in the hands of the section, as though it were 
an independent church. Matters of interest common 
to all the sections were referred to a general advisory 
board. This was to consist of the pastor, standing 
committees of the sections and two representatives of 
the City Missionary Society chosen annually. By 
this board the clerk of the church was to be annually 
elected. If the church was to be represented in any 
ecclesiastical body, each section was to take its turn 
in appointing the representative. Finally, the whole 
church and each section were to hold separate annual 
meetings. The title to all the property was vested in 
the City Missionary Society. After a trial of several 
years the working of the plan fully met the expecta- 
tion of its authoi's. At the close of the year 1888 
the membershii) had increased to sixty, more thair 
half of which still belonged to the Houghton Street 
Section. 

Presbytkrians. — In the year 1718 about one hun- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WOHCESTKK. 



17 



dreii lamilies of Scotch desceut and Presbyterian 
principles emigrated to this coiiritry Croin the mirth 
of Ireland, l^^anding at Boston, they dispersed to 
various points in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. 
A part eame to Worcester, and in the next year 
gathered a church after tlie Presbyterian way. A 
minister. Rev. Edward Fitzgerald, accouipanieil them 
ami preached to them tor some months. Their place 
of worship was at first in the garrison-house, then 
recently built, near the junction of the Boston and 
Lancaster roads. Very soon they began to build a 
house of worship for themselves ; but while it was in 
the process of erection " a body of the inhabitants 
iisseinbled by night and demolished the structure." 
Discouraged by this unwarrantable opposition, they 
nuide no further attempt to build a sanctuary. Hut 
the church continued to hold on its way for some 
years. For awhile they worshipped with the Congre- 
gational rluirch, nearly ei|ualling them in numbers; 
but, failing in this way to secure any preaching of 
their own kind, they withdrew and again became 
separate with the Kev. William .lohnson its their 
minister. While supporting him, however, they were 
also compelled by law to contribute their share to the 
support of the church of the "st^mding order.'" From 
this burden they, in 17HG, asked but failed to be re- 
lieved. In the end, by successive removals and other- 
wise, this first Presbyterian Church in Worcester 
gradually vanished out of existence, and for nearly 
one hundred and fifty years no further attempt was 
made in that direction. Conspicuous among this 
early company of Scotch Presbyterians was William 
< 'aldwell, who very soon went from Worcester with 
his family and became the founder of the town of 
Barre. He lived to be one hundred years old, lacking 
one year. His grandson, William Caldwell, became 
the sheritVof Worcester County — " the mode) sheriff,'' 
as Governor Lincoln styled him. An ancest<>r of 
(ieneral tieorge B. McClellan was also among these 
early Presbyterians o{ Worcester. 

After the long interval already mentioned a second 
Presbyterian church was constituted. The first 
meeting for this purpose was held on the 2l8t of Feb- 
ruary, I88ii, and on the first Sunday in April follow- 
ing public worship was inaugurated. The church was 
formally organized by the Presbytery of Bostiin on 
the first Sunilay in September. ISKti, with fiirty-eight 
members and the Kev. .J. H. Kalston as acting p:ustor. 
Mr. Ralston was a graduate of Alleghany Seminary, 
afterwards was in Kansas for seven years as a home 
mi.HHionary, ami was <-alled to Worcester from that 
distant field of labor. The place of worshi[) for this 
church is a hall in the building of the Young Men's 
('hristian Association. 

I'SITAKIA.V CoSHKEHATloS AI.IHIV— I-irtl Unila- 
ritin i'hurrh. — For about three-f|uarterH of a century 
one church and one parish Hunice<l for the inhabitants 
of Worce»ter. Then the "Second i'arish in the town 
of VS'iircetter '' wx* organized. 'I'liat was ami still 



remains its corporate name, although the organiza- 
tion is commonly known as the First Unitarian 
Church. The genesis of the new body came about 
on this wise: The Rev. Mr. Maccarty, after a long 
and peaceful ministry with the First Church, had 
grown old, fallen sick and become unable to preach. 
.V young man about thirty years old, Mr. Aaron 
Bancroft, was found to take his place in the pulpit. 
.After he had preached for eight Sundays, Mr. Mac- 
carty had so far recovered as to be able to resume 
his |iulpit, and Mr. Bancroft went away. In the next 
year the aged nunister died and Mr. Bancroft was 
again called in. This time his preaching caused 
commotion. Ditlerences of opinion sprang up; the 
parish l)ecame divideil, the peace of the town was 
disturbed and social intercourse interrupted. A sec- 
ond time Mr. Bancroft went away. Then the town — 
not the church — improved the opportunity to vote in 
town-meeting '" that there be a day set apart for fast- 
ing and piayer in this town for calling on the Divine 
assistance for the re-establishment of the gospel min- 
istry in this place." The town adjourned its meeting 
for one week, and then, four days before the one 
appointed for the fast, voted to have " Mr. Haven" 
preach four Sundays and after him Mr. Bancroft four. 
This arrangement lirought Mr. I'ancroft's first .Sunday 
on th(; 10th of Jaiuiary, 17S.">. The date is significant. 
Three days later, without waiting to bear him on ihe 
remaining three Sundays, his admirers to the number 
of fifty-four signed and presented a petition for the 
town — not the church — to take action looking 
towards his settlement as Mr. Maccarty's successor. 
In the town-meeting held in response to this peti- 
tion on the 1st of March, they moved this remarkable 
proposition: "That the town agree to settle Mr. Ban- 
croft in the work of the gospel ministry, and such 
other person as may be agreeable to and chosen 
solely by those who are <lesirous of hearing further, 
and the .settlement and salaries of both to be at the 
expense of the Town at large."' The record says 
that " there was some debate." It adds that it 
passed in the negative. Defeated on this point, the 
petitioners then moved for leave to form a religious so- 
ciety over which .Mr. Bancroft might be settle<I. This, 
too, passed in the negative. They then proceeded to 
take what the town had refused, with all Its financial 
conseipiences. A voluntary association was formed, 
a covenant adopted and a church orgaui/eil. Of 
the sixty-seven associates, only two men and fimr 
women had been communicants. But these, even, 
not having been dismissed from any other church fi)r 
the purpose, were not competent, according to usage, 
to fi»rm the new one. A novel expeilient was devised 
to meet this novel situaliim. A public " lecture'" 
was appointed, at which the covenant was rea<l and 
explained and then signed by all who chose to. In 
this way the rlinrcli connected with the Second Parish 
was constituted. I'nlilii- worship begati on the third 
Snnilay of .March In the court-house, with preach- 



18 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WORCESTER. 



iDg by Mr. Bancroft. On the 7tli of June he con- 
.sented to become the minister of the new society, and 
on the 1st day of February, 1786, he was ordained. 
Only two ministers of the vicinage could be found to 
assist, the rest coining from Boston, Salem and Cam- 
bridge. After mucli difficulty and delay the new 
parish was duly incorporated on the 13th of Novem- 
ber, 1787. It was a poll and not a territorial parish, 
and was tlie first of the kind in Massachusetts outside 
of Boston. Here some notice may fitly be taken of 
what seems not to have arrested the attention of any 
previous writer. By the ancient law of Massachusetts 
the method of choosing and settling a minister was 
after tliis manner : the church first made choice ; then 
the parish — i.e., town — concurred or non-concurred. 
Unless there had been church action there was no 
place for parish action. This law, originating in 1692i 
continued down througli the last century and was in 
force when the Constitution of the Commonwealth 
was adopted. Tliat instrument contained two provis- 
ions bearing on the matter in hand : first, parishes 
were given the e.vcliisive right of electing their public 
teachers ; and second, all the laws theretofore in 
force were declared to " remain and be in full force 
until altered or repealed by the legislature ; such 
parts only excepted as are repugnant to the rights 
and liberties contained in this Constitution." Now, 
on the one hand, the law of 1692 giving to the church 
first and the ])arish afterwards the right of election 
never wa-s repealed ; but, on the other hand, that law 
was repugnant to the " e.i:clusive right" of election 
given to parishes. And this appears to have been the 
legal status at the date of Mr. Bancroft's candidacy 
in 1785. The right of the churcli to any voice in the 
election of its minister had been simply annihilated. 
Whether this was known and fully understood at 
that time may well he doubted. Nevertheless, tlie 
business about Mr. Bancroft went forward precisely 
as though it was understood. The first and only 
resort was to the parish. The parish alone took 
action ; the church took none. So far as its records 
show, Mr. Bancroft Wiis not a candidate before that 
body. His name, even, does not appear on its records. 
The scheme to make him the minister of the First Par- 
ish manifestly originated outside the church and was 
carried on outside. And however much it turmoiled 
the town, it neither rent nor hardly ru filed the church- 
This view is supported by the fact, already stated, 
that only six communicants were found in the new 
movement. After the Bancroft party had withdrawn 
the First Church and Parish resumed their ancient 
relations and proceeded to elect Mr. Story as their 
minister by the rule of 1()92 ; the church choosing 
and the parish concurring. The same course was 
pursued in the subsequent election of Dr. Austin. 
And this would seem to show that the procedure in 
Mr. Bancroft's case was accidental and exceptional, 
and not in the way of using the new power conferred 
on parishes by the new Constitution. 



A house of worship for the Second Parish was the 
next essential thing. With much self-denial on the 
part of both parish and pastor — the latter relinquish- 
ing one-third of his salary — a building was erected, 
and on the 1st day of January, 1792, was dedicated. 
The modest edifice, shorn of its bell-tower and con- 
verted into a school-house, still stands on the spot 
where it was first placed, at the north end of Summer 
Street. Once installed in its pulpit. Dr. Bancroft for 
many years pursued the even tenor of his way, mak- 
ing many friends and no enemies, and by his virtues 
and writings building up a great and solid reputation. 
After forty-one years a colleague was provided, and 
on the 28th of March, 1827, the Rev. Alonzo Hill 
was ordained to that office. In 1829 the old meeting- 
house was deserted for a new and more spacious one 
built of brick on the site occupied by the present edifice. 
On the 19th of August, 1839, Dr. Bancroft departed 
this life at the age of nearly eighty-four. He began 
his preaching in Worcester as an avowed Arminian. 
He was also from the first, as he said, an Arian, but 
not an avowed one. At first he forebore to preach the 
Arian or Unitarian doctrine " because," in his own 
word?, " the people were not able to bear it." When, 
thirty-six years after, he preached a course of contro- 
versial sermons in advocacy of that doctrine, he 
found they were able to bear it, as they evinced 
by asking for their ])ublication. Curiously enough, 
one of these old sermons, on the " Annihilation of 
the Incorrigibly Wicked," places the Unitarian 
divine squarely by the side of the late rector of 
orthodox " All Saints." ' The volume called forth a 
high encomium from President John Adams. "Your 
twenty-nine sermons," he wrote, " have expressed the 
result of all my reading, experience and reflections 
in a manner more satisfactory to me than I could 
have done in the best days of my strength." Besides 
this volume and the best " Life of Washington" in 
the day of it. Dr. Bancroft was the author of thirty- 
four other i)nblications, chiefly sermons. In the 
" Worcester Pulpit" his character was drawn by the 
"orthodox" author of that work, with fit expansions 
and illustrations, as that of a benevolent, candid, 
brave, discreet, much-enduring and conscientious 
minister and man. His face, which art has made 
familiar in many places, has all the attractions of the 
ideal saintly pastor. 

On the death of Dr. Bancroft, his colleague. Dr. 
Hill, became sole pastor, and so remained for more 
than thirty-one years. On the 29th of August, 1849, 
the church was destroyed by fire. Three days after 
the society began to build anew, and on the 26th of 
March, 1821, dedicated the |)resent church edifice. 
While the bo<ly of the building is in the plain 
rectangular style of that day, the spire is a model of 
architectural beauty. In the pulpit of this church 

1 Cumpare Dr. IJiincroft's twenty-seventh sermon witL Dr. Uuntiog- 
iloirs "Conditioiml Immortality," publistied more tban bulf u reutury 
after. 



ECCLKSrASTKAl, IIIST(»i;V OF W(»i;rFSTRi: 



lf> 



Dr. Hill coni]ilete<I his ministry of more than forty- 
ihree years. At the end ot" forty years from his 
ordination he preached u liistorioil discourse, wlierein 
may be found much interesting information touchin); 
the Second Parish and his own ministry. His death oc- 
curreil February 1, 1871. Dr. Hill was a man of rare 
beni);nity ; his face was a benediction. As a colleague 
he lived in entire harmony with hi> senior, and as sole 
pastor he pcrpctnatid :ill amiable traditions. For 
nearly a ctntury the Second Parish nourished under 
the two pastorates in an atmosphere of peace, diffused 
by the personal iuHuence of the two pastors. The 
third minister of the parish was the Ixev. Kdward 
II. Hall. He had been installed Jts the colleairiic of 
l>r. Hill on the HUh of February, ISiiO, ami succeeded 
as sole pastor at the decease of the latter in 1871. 
Mr. Hall closed his ministry of thirteen years to ac- 
cept the charge of the I'nitarian Church in Cam- 
bridge. He had so endeared himself to his parish- 
ioners that with unfeigned regret they yielded to the 
separatiiin. He had continued and re-enl'orccd the 
trailitional amenities of the Second Parish ministry. 
He had approved himself " a scholar, and a ripe and 
good one." As a thinker he had pushed his way 
among the deep problems of thought, beyond what 
wiLs commonly known of him. In the literature of 
art he was so much at home that many outside, as well 
as within his own parish, gladly came for instruction 
to the art lectures which he gave on several occasions. 
A broad and fine culture, coupled with a liberal faith, 
appeared to express the ideal towards which he con- 
tinually aspired. .\nd so, his transfer to the univer- 
sity town was a lit recognition of his iispirations and 
growth in that direction. 

A vacancy of about three years was terminated by 
the installation of the Rev. Austin S. (tarvcr, in 
IHST.. 

ChuTih of lite I'nily. — Si.xty years after the forma- 
tion of Ihc First L'nitariaa Church proceedings lur a 
second were initiated. .\t the close i>f service in the 
afternoon of June liS, I.S44, some persons, at the re- ' 
i|ucst of eleven members of the Second Parish, tarried 
to hold a conference on the subject. In August a 
committee reported in favor of a new Unitarian s(>ciety. 
I hi the 2.Sth of that month a meeting was held at 
which it was voted " to procure funds to pay for 
preaching, to hire a preacher, and to procure a place 
in which to hold religious worship, also to procure 
subscriptions of funds to build a church." Forthwith 
Hubxcriptions were opened, a building fund inaugu- 
rated, the present lot on Kim Street purchaseil, and 
early in the spring of IHI-'i the erection of a church 
e<lificc begun. On the 2)>tli of .lanuary in the same 
year the (irst religious service was conducted by the \ 
Kev. Dr. Jumes Thompson, of Karrc, in a hall over 
the Clarendon Harris book-store. On the J7th of , 
November, after the necessary preliminaries, the 
"Second Tnilarian Society in Worcester" became a 
body corporate under that name an<l style. The ' 



number of corporators was forty-one, among whom 
were Pliny Merrick and Henjamii\ F. Thomas, after- 
wards justices of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. 
On the 7th of February, ]H-l(>, the parish adopted the 
following, which is ils only by-law: " Any person 
signing his name to a certificate in a book kept by 
the clerk for thai purpose, signifying his intention to 
do so, shall thereby become a member of this parish." 
At the same meeting, by regular action on an article 
which had been put into the warrant, the parish 
voted that it-s name should be the " Church of the 
Unity." lint it does not appear that anything was 
ever done to legalize this change of name. < >n the 
10th of February, l,St(;, tlie Kev. FMward Kverett 
Hale was unanimously invileilto become the minister 
of the parish. On the 2oth of At)ril occurred the 
dedication of the church, and on the 'i)>th the in- 
stallation of the minister. The dedicatory sermon — 
a remarkable one — was preached by the Hev. Orville 
Dewey, l).l).. and that of the installation by the Rev. 
Samuel Lotbrop, l).l). No church was ever formed 
in connection with this parish, no creed or covenant 
ever adopted, no deacons elected. Hut, in semblance 
of church order, on the 2")thof May, 184ii, the parish, 
at a meeting duly warned, adopted these resolutions : 
" That a committee bedirccted lo make the necessary 
arrangements for the administration of the ordinances 
of religion : That this church has united lor all means 
and purposes of Christian fellowship: Thcrelbre, that 
an invitation be given to all persons present to par- 
take with us of the Lord's Supper." This action 
marked the striking departure from the First I'nitar- 
ian Church, which from the beginning had a church 
organization with a covenant, diaconate and solemn 
admission to membership. The ministry of Dr. Hale 
continued for ten years. He then, June 3(1, 185(5, 
resigned his office, not because of any dissatisfaction, 
but because he had received a call to Boston, where he 
would have leisure for study which the constant 
dral't for sermon-writing in Worcester would not 
allow. His parishioners were dismayed at this threat- 
ened calamity and earnestly sought, but were unable 
to avert it. The brilliant career of Dr. Hale since he 
sundered this tie is known to all the world. Nine 
nionths went byliefore action was taken to provide 
his successor. On the I'.'thof April, IS.')?, from among 
several who had been nominated in the parish meet- 
ing, the i)arish by a major vote invited the Rev. 
George M. Rartol, of Lancaster to accept the vacant 
place. Mr. liartol declined the call anil the parish 
went on without a minister for a year and eight 
months longer, when, December L'L', IS.'iS, the Rev. 
Rush R. Shippen was installed. In .Inly, 1.S71, Mr. 
Shipper! resigned to take office im Becretary of the 
American Unitarian Association. In n printed dis- 
counie .Mr, .>>hlppen said : " We observe the Ccnn- 
munion ils a Memorial Service mdy." Under his 
ministrv, in IS(;,'i, the church edifice was enlarged by 
the addition of forty-si.x pews nl a cost of five thousand 



2n 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WORCESTER. 



dollars. After nearly two years the Rev. Henry 
Blanchard wa-s installed on the 4th of May, 1873. I 
Mr. Blancharil came into the pari.sh from among the 
Universalists, and when he left returned into that fold. 
But while with the Church of the Unity, he sought, 
in a printed letter addressed to his parishioners, to 
define more e.xactly their dogmatic position by this 
utterance : " We stand for liberty of thought and 
Christianity. _ We define this latter, in the words of 
Noah Webster, to be ' the system of precepts and 
doctrines taught by Jesus Christ.' We learn these 
from the words of the teacher as they are taught in 
the New Testament." Mr. Blanchard's resignation 
was dated March 4, 1S80, and wits accepted to take 
effect on the 1st of April following. The Rev. Roland 
A. Wood, by birth an Englishman, was installed as 
his succes.sor on the 1st of June, 1881. On the 14th 
of September, 1884, he resigned his office, and on the 
l.st of January, 1885, the resignation took effect. A 
year elapsed before another minister was settled ; 
during this interval extensive improvements were 
made upon the church edifice by the construction of 
parish rooms and a general application of decorative 
art. The cost of this outlay was fifteen thousand 
dollars. Tn this renovated and attractive edifice the 
Rev. Calvin Stebbins was installed as the fifth 
minister of the Church of the Unity in January, 1886. 

In the autumn of 18S8 Mr. Stebbins and other 
Unitarians began a mission of that order near New 
Worcester. By the 27th of January, 1889, the enter- \ 
prise had made such progress that measures were 
then adopted for the organization of the third Unitar- 
ian Society in Worcester. .Vt that date every pros- 
pect favored the consummation of the plan. 

Baptists — First liapiiif (Church. — .Tames Wilson 
was the founder of the Baptist Societies in Worces- 
ter. He was a layman who came here from England, 
bringing his Baptist principles with him. On his 
arrival he found no one in Worcester like minded 
with himself save two old persons and Dr. John 
(ircen, who soon disappeared, leaving him alone. 
Trinitarian Congregationalism and Unitarian Con- 
gregationalism were in complete possession of the j 
ground, with two doughty doctors of divinity to 
maintain it against all comers. Hul Jlr. Wilson was 
neither dismayed, nor converted, nor driven away 
He had a great staying quality, and because of it the 
Baptist idea at last took root and fiourished. From 
1795, the year of his coming, until the constitution ol ; 
the First Baptist (^hurch, in 1812, he kept the faith, 
occasionally had meetings for religious worship in 
his dwelling-house, and did what he could to nourisb 
the seed be had planted. In time an association wa^ 
formed, occasional preaching was had and the Cen- 
tre School-house was rented for Sunday service. 
"Opposition applied the spice." On the 28th ol 
September, 1812, the Rev. Wdliam Benlley was em- 
ployed on a salary; on the 9th of December "the 
Baptist Church in Worcester" was constituted. It 



was composed of twenty-eight members, equally di- 
vided between the sexes. The first pastor was in- 
stalled on the same day. Mr. Wilson became one of 
the deacons, and probably the first. He had long 
before won the respect and confidence of his fellow- 
townsmen, so that, in 1801, he had been made the 
postmaster of Worcester, and he so continued until 
his removal to Ohio, in 1833. The creed of the 
church is given at length in Lincoln's " History." 
In the year 1813 the first meeting-house was begun 
and completed, and on the 23d of December was 
dedicated. It stood on the site of the present build- 
ing. Mr. Bentley remained in charge until the 31st 
of .lune, 1813, when he asked and obtained a dis- 
mission. On the 3d of November, in the same year, 
the Rev. Jonathan Going accepted a call to the va- 
cant pulpit. He remained till .Tanuary, 1832, when, 
at his own request, he, too, was dismissed. The rea- 
son which he assigned for this step was, " that he 
might devote himself to the interests of home mis- 
sions, especially in the valley of the Mississippi." 
He had visited the AVest the year before, and had 
come back greatly pressed in spirit to go to its helji. 
Dr. Going was a remarkable man. He had been edu- 
cated beyond many of his Baptist brethren, while his 
natural powers were of a superior order. In advance 
of his contemporaries he had a vision of the wonder- 
ful future of the great Western valley, and deter- 
mined to do his part in giving it a set towards the 
right. Without loss of time the Rev. Frederic A. 
Willard stepped into the pulpit left vacant by Dr. 
Going. He was a graduate of Amherst in the class 
of 18215. The year before coming to Worcester he 
had received, but declined, an appointment to the 
profe.s.sorship of chemistry in Waterville College. 
Having remained with the Worcester church till 
July 30, 1835, he then resigned, to become later the 
pastor of the First Baptist Church in Newton. He 
was succeeded, on the 27th of October, by the Rev. 
.Jonathan Aldrich, who, after seeing the church en- 
larged, by the addition of two hundred and eighteen 
members, took his dismission in May, 1838. In 
I April of the following year the Rev. Samuel B. 
Swaim became the pastor, and so remained for more 
than fifteen years. He was a graduate of Brown 
University in the class of 1830; in 1835 he had ac- 
cepted a professorship of theology in Granville Col- 
lege, which the poverty of the college had not al- 
i lowed him to retain. His ministry was one of great 
power. Under it the church "attained its highest 
numerical, social and financial condition." His 
death, at the age of fifty-five years, was felt to be 
nothing less than a calamity. In 1855 the Rev. J. D. 
E. Jones became the next pastor. After holding his 
office during four years he resigned it, in 1859, to be- 
I come superintendent of public schools. He was suc- 
ceeded by the Rev. Lemuel Mo.ss, on the 14th of Au- 
' gust, 1860. Remaining until the 25th of July, 1864, 
I he then resigned his pulpit. Dr. Moss subsequently 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WORCESTER. 



21 



became presideut of Indiana iState University. On 
the first Saliballi in April, ISi;"), the Rev. H. K. 
Pervear cntereil upon his duties its the next pastor ol 
this church. On the last day of the year 1S72 his 
pastorate came to an end, and on the 1st day ol 
April, 1S7;{, the Rev. U. D. Marshall began his la- 
bors as the ninth pasl^ir of the First Baptist Church. 
After a service of fourteen years Dr. Marshall rc" 
.signed his otlice on the last ."^abbath in March, 1887. 
His successor, the Rev. George 0. Craft, was in- 
ducted into otlice in January, 1888. 

The iirescnt church was erected in the time of Mr. 
.'Vldrich. mi the site of the original buihiing, which 
had been dcstrnyed by fire. It was a larger and liner 
building than the first, and from time to lime under- 
went important iniprovenients, the latest of which, 
ill 1888, involved uu e.xpenditurc of nine thousaiul 
dollars. 

Sfcon'l HaptUt Church. — This was a colony from 
the First Church, it was constituted on the 28th 
day of December, 1841, with ninety-eight members, 
ol whom eighty-nine were from the parent church. 
In one year one hundred more were added. The 
first preacher was the Rev. John Jennings, and the 
first place of worship was the Town Hall, wlicrc 
religious service- continued to be held till the close 
of 184:i. On the 4th of January, 1844, the new 
hou^e of worship on I'lea>anl Street was dedicated. 
No society was organized; the busiue.-^s of the body 
wa» tran.sactcd by the church, which was the owner 
of the property. The Rev. Mr. Jennings had be- 
come the pallor early in 1842, and he resigned 
hi- charge uii the 27th of November, 1840, aflci 
nearly eight years of -iicce.ssful >crvice. His >ucces- 
sor was the Rev. Charles K. Colver who accepted a 
call to the pastorate on the 14th of April, 18.'iii. 
After four years of service failure of healtli obliged 
bim to resign hi.- [ilace. The next pastor wa- the 
Rev. Daniel W. Faiince, who entered upon hi- duties 
nil the I-t of September, 18.'i4. 

In the year I8.'»i! the house of worship was repaired 
and remodeled "at a large expense." The front was 
rebuilt because of the change in the street grade; the 
.Htyle of architecture was altered and a tower added. 
In IStiO Dr. Faiiiice tendered hi- resignation, to take 
effect on the ^oth of April. On the lltb of .liiiic 
following the Rev. .1. .1. Tucker accepted a call to 
the pastorate, but alter a service of fifteen months 
felt compelled, by the force of circumstances, to re- 
sign his place on the •'!i>th of September, ISGI. For 
nearly a year the church wax without a pastor; then 
it wiL- fortunate in -ecnriiig the Hcrvire« of the Rev. 
David Weston. Having acccpt<'<l a call some weeks 
before, he was duly ordained in August, 18ti2, as the 
fifth panlor of the i'lcasant Street Church. Dr. 
WeHtoii fulfilled his office with great Hiitiafaction to 
the people of his charge for more than eight yeari<, 
and then, on the 2.'>tli nf November, 1870, laid it 
down " to engage in another sphere of lalHir." The 



church, in a series of tender resolutions, bore its \.e»- 
tiniiiiiy to bim as "a ript* scholar, skillful scrmonizer 
and .sound theologian." 

Two ministers in succession were now called, but 
both declined the call, tin the 7th of June, 1872, 
the Rev. I. R. Wheelock received a call, accepted it 
on the IDth of .hily, and was ordained on the 1st of 
.Vugust. After nearly three yt'ars his resignation 
was accepted on the 28tli of March, 187.">. He was 
fiillowed by the Rev. Sullivan S. Holmau, who was 
installed on the Kith of June of the same year. 
Having accepted a call to another field of labor, Mr. 
Holmaii otli'ted his resignation, which was accepted 
on the lOih of March, 1.SS2, " with feelings of sor- 
row." Six iniinths alter Rev. J. S. James, of Allen- 
town, I'a., received and declined a call. On the 7tli 
of December following the Rev. Henry F. Lane ac- 
cepted a unanimous call, and on the first Sunday in 
.lanuary, ISSS, entered upon his new ministry. On 
the 1st day of March, 1888, his term of service was 
terminated, by the joint action of ]mstor and people, 
after five years of uninterrupted harmony. On the 
27th of June the Rev. H. J. White accepted a call 
which had been given on the Gth of that month. 

Main Street Baptixl Church. — This was a second 
colony from the First Baptist ('hurcb. In .lune, 
18')2, a petition by Eli Thayer and fifteen others was 
presented to that church, expressing a desire to form 
a third Baptist Church. They declared their readi- 
ness to begin at once, and dutifully asked for the 
support and ajiproval of the mother church. The 
maternal .sanction was promptly and cordially 
granted; the City Hall was at once engaged, and 
there, in .luly, the Rev. Dr. Sharp, of Boston, 
preached the first sermon for the new colony. Pub- 
lic worshifi was maintained in the same place until 
November, when the place of meeting was trans- 
feireil to Brinlcy Hall. There a Sunday school wii- 
organi/.ed, and there preaching by the Rev. S. S. (fit- 
ting was continued through the winter. In the even- 
ing of February 2ii, 18515, a parish organization was 
duly perfected under the name of the "Third Bap- 
tist Society in Worcester." The business was done 
in the law-ollice of I'rancis Waylainl, .Ir., umler a 
warrant issued by Isaac Davis. ( »n Sunday, the next 
day, a committee was a|ipoinlcd to prepare Articles 
of Faith and a Covenant with a view to a church 
organization. (Jn the iltli of March what were known 
as the "New Hampshire Articles of Faith" and 
"(,'oveiiaiil " were adopted, a clerk was chosen, and 
the church constituted with thirty-three members. ,\l 
the -ame time the Rev. William H. I''. Hansel was 
chosen (o be the pastor ; but the call he declined. 

On the l8ihof .May the society voted to build a 
chapel at the corner of ]<eicester (now Hcrinon) and 
Main Streets. On the 2;{d of June the recognition 
of the new church took place with a Herinon by the 
Rev. Dr Idc, of .'s|iringfielil. In the course of the 
year the chapel wiut completed at a cost, including 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WORCESTER. 



that of land and furnishing, of *64G1.17. On the 
first Sunday in January, 1804, it was occupied for the 
first time for public worship. On the ]8th of Sep- 
tember foHowinjr Mr. H. L. Waylaiul was unanimously 
called to the pastorate. In accepting the call he re- 
linquished two hundred dollars of the moderate sal- 
ary which had been voted to him, as a contribution 
to the expenses of the society. On the 1st of 
November occurred his ordination, President Way- 
land preaching the sermon. On the 12th of Febru- 
ary, 1850, plans tor a church edifice were adopted 
and a building committee chosen. Early in May 
ground was broken ; in the course of the year the 
hou.se was finished, and on the second Sunday in 
January, 1806, was occupied for public worship. The 
whole property, including church, chapel, land and 
furnishing, had cost S20, 174.01. 

After a highly successful ministry <if seven years 
the resignation of Mr. Waylaud was accepted, with 
much regret, on the 4th of October, 18C1. A week 
before he had left his home to enter the service of 
the Republic as chaplain of the Seventh Connecticut 
Volunteers. P\>r twenty-eight months he continued 
in that service; then became successively a home 
missionary in Tennessee, a teacher in two Western 
colleges, an editor in Philadelphia. On the first 
Sunday in May, ]8ti2, his Successor, Rev. Joseph 
Banvard entered upon the duties of his office. On 
the 15th of February, 1864, the i>arish voted to 
change its name, and take the name of the " Main 
Street Baptist Society,'' and at the same time took 
measures to obtain the legislative sanction thereto. 
Dr. Banvard having resigned after a ministry of 
nearly four years, adhered to his purpose against the 
earnest wishes of the church expressed in its vote of 
March 9, 1866. The church then elected as his suc- 
cessor the Rev. George B. Gow, in recognition of 
whom public services were had on the 18th of April, 
1867. 

In the next year an attempt was made to introduce 
the system of free seats ; but, though the church 
adopted a vote affirming it to be " unscrii)tural and 
unchristian to rent seats,'' and offering to sustain the 
society in abolishing rentals, the latter body was' 
found to be not then prepared for the innovation. In 
1872 Mr. Gow's resignation was accepted, to take 
effect on the last Sunday in October. His successor 
was the Rev. F. W. Bakcman, who, after a psistorate 
of about three years and three months, terminated 
the same on the 1st of July, 1876. After an interval 
of sixteen months the Rev. George E. Horr became 
the fifth pastor of the church. He entered upon the 
duties of his office on the 4th of November, 1877, 
with services of recognition on the 20th. Before the 
close of this year the chapel was enlarged and im- 
proved at a cost of $4829.40. 

On the 2d of November, 1879, the twenty-fifth an- 
niversary of the ordination of the first pastor. Rev. 
Dr. II. L. Wayland, was appropriately observed. A 



discourse full of interesting reminiscences was deliv- 
ered by Dr. Wayland, and afterwards printed by re- 
quest. In honor of him it was voted, about this 
time, " that the bell to be placed on the tower bear 
the inscription, Wiu/Zund ManoriaL" By a change 
in the by-laws on the 10th of February, 1881, no 
person was thereafter to be admitted to membership 
in the parish who was not already a member of the 
church. On the 24th of October in the same year 
the resignation of j\lr. Horr was accepted ; and on 
the 3d of October in the next year, by a vote of 
thirty-nine to three, the Rev. Henry A. Rogers, of 
Montpelier, V't., was called to the pastorate. 

In 1883 an act was con.suramated by the parish that 
was, perha[)s, without precedent. Acting upon the 
written opinion of the Hon. Peter ('. Bacon, LL.D., 
the Nestor of the Worcester bar, the parish, at a 
meeting held on the 24th of April and 8th of May, 
under a warrant drawn by Mr. Bacou, transferred, in 
the way of gift, its meeting-house and all its other 
property, real and personal, to the deacons, " for the 
use of the church." In the warrant wa.s an article 
" to see if the society would take any action in re- 
gard to dissolving the society." No formal action 
was taken under this article. After provision had 
been made for transferring the property it was 
" voted to adjourn without day." No meeting of the 
parish was ever held after that, and evidently it wa.s 
assumed that the parish was " dissolved." But to all 
appearance the " Main Street Baptist Society" still 
lives and has a name to live. 

Mr. Rogers continued his ministry with the Main 
Street Church until 1886, when a growing disagree- 
ment between him and certain of the membership, 
and also within the membership itself, culminated in 
the summary dismi.ssion of himself and fifty-six 
others on the 27th of October, " for the purpose of 
forming a Baptist church in the south part of the 
city." At the same time the pastor gave in his res- 
ignation, to take effect on the 31st. On the next day 
it was unanimously accepted. On the 19lh of De- 
cember the Main Street Church proposed a mutual 
council to the "South Baptist (Jhurch," but the over- 
ture was declined. On the 3l8t of January, 1887, 
Professor C. R. Newton was employed to supply the 
pulpit as acting pjistor. This continued until the 23d 
of September, when the Rev. Charles H. Pendleton 
was duly installed. 

Dewey Strrrt Baptist Church. — As in many other 
cases, a Sunday-school was the beginning of this 
church. It was organized in the Mason Street 
school-house on the first Sunday in August, 1867. 
Mr. L. M. Sargent and other laymen from the First 
Baptist Church were the original movers in the en- 
terprise. For several years Joseph H. Walker, mem- 
ber of Congress elect, was its superintendent. Under 
his efficient administration the school prospered so 
greatly that more ample accommodations were 
speedily called for. This led to the building of the 



KrcLEsiASTiCAi. HISTOID or \\ni!rp:sTRR 



chapel on Dewey Street. The lot on which it wii« 
erecteil wiis the juint pil\ of tlie hue Jmlge Francis 
H. Dewey iiiul .lo.-e|>li Masi>n, V^q. Iiuhidinf: tills 
land, valued at $7M, the cost ol" tlie property wiL< 
$4,570. Of this sura, ?!l(M>() was the gift of Mr. Walk- 
er. The dedication of the chapel took place on the 
8lh of Fehrnary, 1872, and from that date it was oc- 
cupied for the Sunday school and religious services. 
The church was organized on the Sth "f .luly in the 
same year with a membership of twenty-eight. Its 
first p:istor was .Mr. Sargent, the laymim to whose 
zeal and eHiciency the church had owed its origin. 
During five years of devoted service he had approved 
himself in that and other ways, worthy of recognition 
as one among the clerical brethren. Accordingly, on 
the 2il of May, 1S72, he was called to the ministry of 
the Dewey .Street congregation. This was two months 
before the church had been formed. On the -iith of 
September it was recognized by a council convened 
in the chapel, and at the same time Mr. Sargent was 
ordained to the work of the ministry and installed as 
pastor of the church, flis ministry was brief. On 
account of ill health he resigned on the 2d of May, 
1873. At the close of his term of service the mem- 
bership of the church had increased to forty-four 
persons. The next pastor was the Rev. D. F. Lam- 
son. Coming on the 1st of July, 1873, and remain- 
ing nine and a half years, he left, on the Ist of .fanu- 
ary, 1882, a church embracing ninety-tivc members. 
His successor, Rev. B. H. Lane, entered on his office 
on the Ist of June, 1882, and vacated it on the loth of 
October, 1884. On the 10th of the same month the 
Rev. D. H. Stoddard assumed the office. CJrowing 
congregations and consequent prosperity soon made 
apparent the inadc'iuacy of the chapel accommoda- 
tions. -Mr. .'"todilanl therefore took in hand the busi- 
nens of building a church edifice; and the Baptist 
City Mi8.<<ion Board, seeing the importance of the field 
and its manifest needs, cordially co-operated with Mr. 
Stfiddard in his scheme of church-building. With 
the aid of #7,(«Kt from this source, more land was 
bought and a commoilious edifice, with " perfect ven- 
tilation," was erected at a cost of *14,S44. The value 
of the enlarged lot was reckoned at :j'2,0<lO additional. 
On Thanksgiving day in 188tJ the vestry was first oc- 
cupied, and on the 13lh of .lanuary, 1887, the com- 
pleted building Wiis dedicated. The property is held 
by trustees, there being no parish organization. The 
seats are free and the current e.xpenses are paid by 
weekly contributions. At the close of the year 1888 
the membership of the church was one hundred and 
forty-seven. 

Lincoln H/nare Jiapliit Churrh. — This church grew 
from very feeble beginnings. Sunday schools had 
been begun and discontinued ; only occa.-<ional preach- 
ing ha<l been had. .Material rcMources were limited 
and lack of courage prevaile*!. .Many years elapsed 
before the decisive step of forrniog a church was 
taken. There came a time.at last, when some of the 



waiting ones " heard a call from God to go forward," 
and on the 4th of .\pril, 18S1, the church was organ- 
ized. The original membership consiste<l of thirty- 
one |>ersons, largely from the PleiL-iaiit Street Church. 
Public services of recognition were held oti the ne.xt 
day in accordance with the vote of council. Through 
the summer following preaching was sujiplied by the 
Rev. D. F. Lanison, of the Dewey Street Church. In 
October the Rev. J. .1. Miller entered upon his work 
as the first |)astor. Till then public worship had been 
conducted in a hall; bul the new pjistor made it his 
first business to provide a church edifice. To his un- 
wearied endeavors and personal influence it was owing 
that the enterprise was successful. In May, 1882, a 
building-lot on Highland Street near Lincoln Square 
was purchased and a substantial edifice of brick and 
stone of excellent architectural design was erected. 
The lower part of the house was occupied for relig- 
ious services on the 8th of July, 1883. On the 10th 
of June, 1884, the dedication of the complete build- 
ing look place. The cost of land, building and fur- 
niture was about thirty thousand dollars. Of this 
amount .loseph II. Walker, of the Main Street liaj)- 
tist (.'hurch, was the largest contributor, (iifts also 
were made by friends outside the Baptist fold. "The 
property is held and controlled by the church through 
its aiipointed officers." The seats are free and current 
expenses are met by weekly olt'erings. In 1888 the 
membership was three hundred and seventy. 

ismth Biipfint C/iurch. — The inception of this 
youngest of the Baptist Churches was as early as 1883, 
and was due to the Rev. Henry A. Rogers, then re- 
cently installed as jtastor of the Main Street Baptist 
(Church. Mr. Rogers believed in " missions," and had 
passed much of his life in setting them on foot. Im- 
mediately on beginning work in Worcester he took 
note of the fact that the whole section lying south of 
the Main Street Church was without any kind of 
Baptist organization. He therefore proposed to his 
own church the establishment of a' mission in that 
(piarter. The proposal met with little encourage- 
ment. Then he began a mission at his own charge. 
One day in .lune, 18H3, he was casually introduced 
to a young Frenchman named Isaac B. Le Claire. 
This man had led an abandoned life, had been a 
Roman Catholic, and not very long before had been 
converted to the Baptist faith and was now living a 
sober life. A brief interview emled in his being em- 
ployed by Mr. Rogers as a colporteur. He at once 
went to work holding meetings in school-houses and 
private houses. The results of his work proved him 
to be the right man in the right place; and, indeed, 
his subsequent career in a far wider field showed 
that he had a remarkable fitness for his work. His 
immediate success in South Worcester was such that 
by August the .Main Street Church felt con8traine<l to 
assume the charge of the mission. By the winter of 
1884, every available place of meeting had become so 
crowded that Le Claire was moved to ask for the build- 



2-t 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORl" OF AVORCESTER. 



ing of u chapel ; his request was promptly heeded, 
and the chapel at Jamesville was the result. Ail this 
was preparatory for the South Church scheme. The 
first suggestion lor a chapel on the site which it after- 
wards occupied was made in January, 1884, at a 
prayer-meeting in the house of William A. Norton. 
In February Mr. Rogers urged the new chapel upon 
his people, expres.sing with much detail the reasons 
for the enterprise. After a time the Baptist City Mis- 
sion Board became possessed, as not before, with the 
mission idea and adopted a comprehensive plan for 
the city, including the South Worcester Mission. On 
the 14th of September, 188G, the Board took measures 
to secure the lot already mentioned, on the corner of 
Main and Gates Streets. On the 1st of October the 
Main Street Church, at a very large meeting of eighty- 
one members, unanimously voted in favor of the 
South Church enterprise. In view of this action, the 
board on the 19th made over all claim to the lot in 
favor of the South Church. On the 21st a large 
number of the Main Street Church agreed together 
to ask letters of dismission for the purpose of organ- 
izing the South Church. On the 27th, at a covenant 
and business meeting of the Main Street Church, 
where one hundred and thirty persons were present, 
of whom not less than one hundred and twenty were, 
by estimation, of the membership, fifty-seven were } 
dismissed by a large majority vote. But of the fifty- j 
seven only forty were present at the meeting. On 
the next day, October 28th, the fifty-seven members, ; 
including Mr. Rogers, assembled in the chapel on 
Canterbury Street and were constituted a church by 
the adoption of Articles of Faith and the election of 
deacons and clerk. At the same meeting was con- 
summated the settlement of Mr. Rogers as pastor of 
the new church. On the 27th of February, 1887, the 
church was publicly recognized by a council duly con- 
vened. The Baptist Mission Board, having acquired 
possession of the old Dewey Street Chapel, conveyed 
the same to the new organization and it was removed 
to the lot already described, and there, fronting Clark 
University, on the 30th of December, 1887, it became 
the church home of the South Baptist Church. No 
parish was organized, but the deacons were made 
trustees, to hold the property for the use of the 
church, after the method advised by Mr. Bacon in 
the case of the Main Street Church. Land, chapel 
and other property cost the South Church .^,000. 
The membership was one hundred and fifty-seven at 
the close of the year 1888. 

Methodists. — Methodism made its first approaches 
for the capture of Worcester after a somewhat strag- 
gling fashion. In 1790, the Rev. Freeborn Garrettson, 
" that princely class-leader," as Dr. Dorche.-ter styles 
him, came to Worcester, looked about town, fell in 
with Dr. Bancroft, by him was invited to tea, " drew 
back" because the Unitarian doctor did not tliink it 
worth while to say grace over the evening cup, and 
went on his way. Mr. Garrettson tells the story in 



his private diary. The urbane Unitarian doctor was, 
perhaps, no less devout than his demonstrative Meth- 
odist brother, but in the seclusion of his own home he 
chose to order his devotions in his own way. Next 
after Sir. Garrettson came Bishop Asbury, in 1798, in 
1805, 1807, 1812 and 1815. But neither he nor any 
other itinerant found any foothold in Worcester until 
1823. Then the Rev. John E. Risley came and 
preached the first Methodist sermon heard in the 
town. Mr. Risley was travelling the Milford Circuit, 
embracing eighteen towns. In these he preached 
two hundred and thirty-five times in one year, but 
only five of them were in Worcester. These preach- 
ings were in a school-house at New Worcester, where 
were the only Methodists in town, and of these only 
a family or two. Other preachers came in subsequent 
years, but not until 1831 was any permanent society 
organized, forty-one years after Garrettson's advent. 
In June, 1830, the Rev. Dexter S. King had been 
appointed to this vacant field " to break up new 
ground." He began at New Worcester where he 
organized a class. This class was " kept alive" with 
preaching in the school-house once in two weeks. 
In 1833, Solomon Parsons joined the class and then 
began a movement for a society in the centre of the 
town. The way had been prepared by a young lad 
named Jonathan L. Estey, who came to town early in 
1S32 full of zeal to hunt up and consjrt with Meth- 
odists. He at last found and became a member of 
the class at New Worcester, and by his zeal so in- 
fected his associates that in the end Methodist preach- 
ing was established in the Centre. Early in 1833, a 
room was hired at the corner of Mechanic and LTnion 
streets for the use of a Class. There the Rev. William 
Routledge preached at times ; at other times he 
preached in the Central Church vestry and in the 
Baptist Church. In the autumn what was considered 
a bold step was taken. Eighteen persons, at the 
head of whom was Solomon Parsons, presented to the 
town authorities a petition for leave to use the Town 
Hall for Methodist meetings. Leave was formally 
granted, and the first Methodist sermon was preached 
there by the Rev. Ira M. Bidwell. Then the work 
went on " in the eld Methodist style." " The hall 
was crowded, and," says Bidwell, " we had a time of 
power. After this we did not want for a congrega- 
tion in Worcester." Early in 1834 the Kev. Joseph 
A. Merrill was appointed by the bishop to this, the 
Worcester Mission. On the 8th of February thirteen 
persons were duly organized as the " Methodist Epis- 
copal Religious Society in the town of Worcester." 
This was a parish organization, and Dr. Dorchester 
says the step was taken to obtain relief from taxation 
in other parishes. But this is a mistake. Prior to 
1834 the law which would have made this .step neces- 
sary had been changed. The further history of this 
organization is now to be pursued as that of the 
First Methodist or Trinity Church. — In June, 1834, 
' the Rev. George Pickering was appointed preacher to 



ECCLESIASTrCAL IIISTOIiV OF WORCESTRK. 



tbJR church, but was also charged with duties that 
I'arrieti him into several of ihc siirrouiidiii}: towns. 
Meantime, a buard of trustees was appointed ami a 
lot of laud purchased for a church site. In the first 
year the membership had grown to one hundred and 
nine. In 183') the Rev. John T. Burrill was sent to 
this charge. At Ibis time the anti-slavery fever was 
at its height, and an incident occurred which inijier- 
illed the infant church. On the I'ltb of August 
Rev. Orange Scott, then the presiding elder, under- 
took to deliver an anti-slavery lecture in the Meth- 
odist place of worship at the Town Hall. In the 
midst of his discourse i.,evi Lincoln, Jr., eldest son of 
the (Jovernor, entered the ball with an Irish accom- 
plice, advanced to the desk, seized the speaker's man- 
U8cri|>t and tore it in pieies. At the same time the 
Irishman laid violent bands on the speaker himself 
This was done in the presence of an audience " em- 
bracing many persons who held the highest ofljces in 
the county and the state." The contemporary account 
tif the alfair in the llbrc«/i»r .S/<y styled it a " Breach 
of the Peace." But the notice taken of it by the authori- 
ties seemed to indicate that the assailed and not the 
assailants were regarded as the peace-breakers ; for 
directly after, the selectmen, at the head of wliimi was 
the late .Indge Merrick, notified the Jlethodist 
society that if the Town Hall were ever opened again 
for an ami -slavery meeting their use of it for preach- 
ing would be forfeited. The society, in its weakness, 
was intimidated and did not again offend. But it 
marks the temper of the time that, later on, the 
couragojus Scott w:i8, by his own brethren, deposed 
from, or not re-appointed to, the presiding eldership 
because he would not promise to refrain from anti- 
slavery lecturing. 

In the autumn of 1831! the erection of a church 
was begun on the southeast corner of Exchange and 
Union Streets, completed in March, 1837, and then 
dedicated. This was the lirst .Methoditt meeting- 
house in Worcester. The building was in the centre 
of (lopulation, but also ig the centre of a mudhole. 
It stood on piles, and was approached by hopping 
from tuft to tufl of grass across puddles and oo/.e. 
The Spy of that day took pay for advertising the 
iledic.-ition of this lowly church, but took no notice 
whatever of the dedication itself, although it said in 
every issue that " its oflice was to noise abroad." 
The church survived all neglect, and, waxing 
stronger and stronger, in the end erected one of the 
fini-st church edifices in the city, compelling the 
homage of the public and the press. 

In 1H37 the Kev. .lame.- Porter came, and remained 
• >ne year. Allhoiigb a year of general bankruptcy, it 
wat one of great enlargement for the church. About 
one hundred and seventy-five probationer* were added 
to the membership during bis year. Mr. Porter was 
diicccedcd by the Rev. .lotham Horlon, whose term 
of service wiut opially brief In May, lH3!t, the 
church jiroperty wiw legally transferred to a board 



of trustees, in accordance with the Discipline of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 'I'lie Rev. Moses L. 
Scudder succeedeil to the jiastorate in this year, to 
be followed by the Rev. Miner Raymond in 1S41. 
Mr. Raymond remained two years, showed himself 
eminent as a preacher, and "made many friends 
beyond the limits of his own society." This year 
was made memorable for Worcester Methodism by 
the meeting of the New England .\nnual Conference 
in the town for the first time. In 1843 the Rev. 
Charles K. True, D.D. was assigned to the charge 
of this church. He was a graduate of Harvard and 
a Methodist minister of mark. Under him the pro- 
ject for removing the church to a site near the Com- 
mon was "renewed." But while they still delayed, 
it w!is burned to the ground. Then a site w:is speedily 
purchased and the Park Street Church erected. The 
Rev. Amos Binney bad become the pastor in 1844, 
and under him the new church was dedicated on the 
llUh of August, 1845. It was noteil that Mr. Bin- 
ney's term of service was very "profitable" finan- 
cially, since he had carried his people through many 
embarrassments growing out of the church-buililing. 
After him came in succession the Rev. Jonathan D. 
Bridge, Rev. Loranus Crowell, Rev. Nelson E. Cob- 
leigh. Rev. Z. A. Mudge, Rev. Daniel E. Chapin (a 
favorite, sent a second time), Rev. Kales H. Newhall, 
Rev. Chester Eicid, Rev. .lohii H. Twombly, Rev. 
John W. Dadmun, Rev. John H. Mansfield (whose 
ministry of three years was very prosperous), and 
Rev. Charles N. Smith in 18i!8. 

By this time the Park Street church bad become 
too strait for the congregation. The s<icicly, there- 

I fore, now grown strong in numbers in courage and 
in resources, deterinineil upon building a new church 
adequate to its new demands. Accordingly, a site 
was procured on the corner of Main and Chandler 
Streets, in the close neighborhood of the new United 
States Post-Oflice building, and there they erected 
Trinity Church at a cost, including the land, of one 
hundred thousand dollars. This crowning church of 
Methodism in Worcester was dedicated on the 2<'>tli 
of April, 1871. The Rev. F. W. Mallalicu, D.D. 
(afterwards bishop), was the first preacher appointed 
for Trinity after the occupation of the new house. 
He came in April, 1871, and remained one year. 
Rev. Ira fi. Bidwell, appointed in 1872, remained 
three years. Me was followed by Rev. V. A. Cooper, 
who was appointed to help the church financially 
as well ns spiritually. In that respect there was no 
disappointment, as through his agency the debt was 
reduced by thirty-five thousand dollars in one year. 
The Rev. A. P. Kendig followed liini in 1877, after 
whom came in succession Rev. .1. A.Cass, in 187'.l; 
Rev. C. 8. Rogers, D.D., in 1882; Rev. W. T. Perriii, 

, in 188r,, and Rev. W. 11. Tboniaa, D.D., in 1888. 

1 lAiurel StrffI C/iiirrh. — The selection of Park stri'c^t 

I for the new site of the First Church bad not been 
satisfactory to all the members. Some thought it 



26 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTOKY OF WORCESTER. 



carried the church too far from the centre of popula- 
tion ; it was too far south. Out of this dissatisfaction 
grew the Laurel Street Church. This was as far to the 
north. For a time, however, the new colony had its 
place of worship on Thomas Street, which was more 
central. The church was duly organized on the 20th 
of July, 1S45 ; but it was not until the 27th of February, 
1849, that the new house on Laurel Street was dedi- 
cated. The first pastor was the Rev. Richard S. Rust. 
He was soon elected principal of the New Hampshire 
Conference Seminary, and after a pastorate of seven 
months was released from his engagement. The 
Rev. J. W. Mowry followed, after whom came the 
Rev. George Dunbar. This pastor was indefatiga- 
ble in his efforts to secure the erection of the new 
house of worship. In April, 1849, he was succeeded 
by the Rev. Francis A. Griswold, after whom came in 
succession the Rev, Cyrus S. Eastman, Rev. William 
M. Mann in 18r)0, Rev. David H. Higgins, Rev. Jo- 
seph W. Lewis in 1853, Mr. Mowry again in 1854, Rev. 
Henry W. Warren in 1855 (afterwards bishop). Rev. 
Ichabod Marcy in 1857, Rev. Samuel Kelly in 1858, 
and Rev. Jefl'ersou Hascall, who had long been favor- 
ably known as a presiding elder and was with the 
Laurel Street Church in the latter part of 1801 to 
fill out the terra of Rev. Joseph C. Cromack, who 
had been appointed in 1860, but had left in August, 
1861, to become chaplain of the Nineteenth Regiment 
of Massachusetts Volunteers. In 1862, Rev. T. W. 
Lewis was appointed to the charge but left in 186;i 
to become Superintendent of Methodist Missions in 
South Carolina, Rev. James Dean completing his 
term. After him came Rev. M. M. Parkhurst in 
1864, Rev. Samuel Kelly again in 1805, under whom 
the church reached its highest prosperity ; Rev. An- 
gelo Carroll in 1867, under whom the sum of two thou- 
sand dollars was expended in church improvements; 
Rev. William Pentecost in 1869, Rev. H. D. Weston 
in 1872, Rev. William Pentecost again in 1875, Rev. 
Fayette Nichols in 1878, Rev. Garrett Beekman in 
1880, under whose ministry "the congregation dou- 
bled ; " Rev. G. M. Smiley in 1883, continuing three 
years, in the last of which the fortieth anniversary 
of the church was celebrated; Rev. Ira G. Ross 
in 1886, and the Rev. Alonzo Sanderson in 1887. 
Resides his spiritual work, Mr. Sanderson devoted 
himself energetically to the improvement of the 
financial condition of the society, and among other 
measures established a monthly paper called the 
Worcester Methodist, from which about fifty dollars a 
month come into the parish treasury. The value ol 
the church property, aside from the parsonage, is set 
at twelve thousand dollars. The raember.-fliip in 1888 
was about one hundred and thirty-two. 

Third M. E. ( Webster Square) Church. — This church 
was organized in 1800. Two thirds of its first mem- 
bers came from Park Street Church. Its first pastor 
was the Rev. Daniel Dorchester who had also been 
the chief agent in its organization. In 18.j5 he had 



become a member of the Connecticut Senate where 
he acted a prominent part in various directions. But 
in later years Dr. Dorchester became greatly more 
distinguished as the learned historian and statistician 
of the Methodist Connection. The first religious ser- 
vices of this church were held in Union Hall. The 
membership, at first small, increased more than ten- 
fold during the first year. Members of other denom- 
inations in the vicinity took a lively interest in the 
enterprise and contributed to its maintenance. In 
1863 the Rev. William Gordon became the pastor. 
To him succeeded, in due order, Rev. William A. 
Bramau in 1864, Rev. William Pentecost in 1866, Rev. 
Edward W. Virgin in 1807, and Rev. Benjamin F. 
Chase in 1869. This last pastor was in the midst of 
a work of great spiritual power, when he was sud- 
denly prostrated by a hemorrhage which, after pro- 
longed illness, terminated his life. His memory long 
remained fragrant in the church. After him came 
the Rev. Charles H. Hanaford, in 1870. Under him 
the long-agitated subject of church-building assumed 
definite shape ; contributions came in from members 
and from others outside, notably from Albert Curtis 
and the Messrs. Coes, and the house was erected on a 
fine site purchased long before, and on the 27th of 
April was duly dedicated. The cost was about 
$20,000. In 1872 the Rev. Pliny Wood was appointed 
to the charge. After him came the Rev. Mr. Parsons 
in 1873, Rev. E. A. Titus in 1875, Rev. V. M. Sim- 
mons in 1878, Rev. Daniel Richardson in 1879, Rev. 
J. W. Finn in 1880, Rev. N. Fellows in 1882, Rev. J. 
O. Knowles in 1883, and Rev. L. W. Staples in 1886, 
completing his term of three years in 1889. 

Grace Church. — The growth of the city and the in- 
flux of Methodist families led up to this enterprise. 
To save these families from wandering into other 
folds, as well as to help on the religious life of the 
city, wa.s the burden laid on pious and sagacious 
Methodists. The decisive push, however, was given 
by the presiding elder. Dr. Dorchester, in a sermon 
on the moral condition of our cities preached in Feb- 
ruary, 1S(!7. This was reinforced by the approval of 
the Annual Conference in April following. By this 
body the Rev. J. Oramcl Peck, a graduate of Amherst 
in 1862, was appointed to the pastoral charge of the 
society, which had already been organized under the 
uame of the "Main Street MeUiodist Episco{)al 
Church." Washburn Hall was secured for Sunday 
i services and Liiuohi House Hall for other meetings. 
i Pluck and push ruled from the first. Said Dr. Dor- 
I Chester: "A more spirited and liberal company of 
Christians have seldom been united in church fellow- 
ship." The hall was filled to overflowing; the Sun- 
day scliool ipiickly became one of the largest in the 
city; in the first two years the society raised about 
twenty thousand dollars. Dr. Peck, afterwards dis- 
tinguished in a wider sphere, was a man of great 
power, physical endurance, untiring activity and 
worthv ambition. To him was ascribed in a large de- 



ECCLESIASTICAL IIIST(ti;V OF WORCESTER. 



gree the instant success of tliis church enterprise. 
The edifice was not completed till 1872, under the 
ministry of his successor, the Rev. Andrew McKeown. 
The site finally chosen wa.s on Walnut Street instead 
of Main Street, and the name of Grace Church was 
substituted for the one first adopted. The cost of the 
land was ten Ihnusuiid dollars. In .luly, 1871, the 
vestry was completeil and nccupicd for religious ser- 
vices. The church was dedicated in January, 1872, 
with a .sermon by tlie Rev. Dr. Eddy, of Baltimore. 
The successor of Mr. McKeown was the Rev. .1. O. 
Knowlcs. He came in 1872 and remained one year, 
and was then succeeded by the Rev. C. 1). Hills, who 
remained three years. In lS7t! the Rev. (ieorge S. 
Chadbourne, afterward presiding elder of the Boston 
District, was appointed to Grace Church. He occu- 
pied his term of three years largely in pushing the 
church through a period of financial embarrassment. 
That serious business, however, was relieved by the 
observance, in May, 1877, of the tenth anniversary of 
the rhurch, when an eloquent sermon wjis preached by 
Bishop Foster. In 1880 the Rev. ,T. W. .Johnson, an 
Knglishman.wasuppointed to the charge. His pastor- | 
ate of two years resulted in securing the warm attach- 
ment of his people. The Rev. D. H. Ela, D.D., fol- 
lowed him, and continued in charge till 1885. He 
was eminent alike in preaching and in jiroviding for 
the payment of the church debt. His successor, the 
Rev. George Whittaker, will long be remembered 
with gratitude for his powerful and successful advo- 
cacy of the no- license cause in the city. In Septem- 
ber, 1887, he was calle<l to the presidency of Wiley 
University, a Southern college, and the church was 
left to the strange experience of hearing till the next 
Conference a succession of preachers not appointed 
by that authority. But in April, 1888, Grace Church 
resumed its normal condition under the Rev. John 
(.ialbraith, who was then appointed the minister in 
charge. 

Coral Street Chitrch.^ln olden time a gentle emi- 
nence to the sfiutheaat of the "little village of Wor- 
cester'' bore the Indian name o( Sagalabteol. There, 
in 1()79, the first white man, Digory Serjent, built 
his house, and there, in spite of warnings 
against the red savages, he persisted in living until 
1702, when a rc-scuing party arrived only to find him 
lying slain in his dwelling and his family carried into 
captivity. Sagalabscot remained bare and open till 
I86'J, when the city began to creep over its slopes and I 
it was christened Union Hill. The houses soon iiiul- 
liplieil to such an extent as lo attract the attention f)f 
the .\Ictlioili»t« to the locality. The Rev. .Mr. .Mc- 
Keown, of lirace Church, was llic first lo move, and 
by him well-known laymen of that and other Method- 
ist churches were enlisted for work there. On the 
loth of September, 1 87 1, a church lot was purchased 
un the corner <jf l-'oral and Wiiverly Streets for the 
sum of seventy-two hundrtil dollars. In the same 
month open-air Sunday services were held rm the lot 



at five o'clock in the afternoon by the Methodist min- 
isters of the city. Subscriptions toward the enter- 
prise of about nine hundred dollars were there ob- 
tained; through the personal solicitations of Mr. Mc- 
Keown the amount was increased to about eighteen 
hundred dollars. In January, 1872, a Sunday school 
with one hundred and fifty members was organized 
in Scofield's block at the foot of Coral Street. Teach- 
ers from other denominations were enlisted, and 
among the scholars were twenty boys of Roman Cath- 
olic parentage. Presently, the presiding elder ap- 
peared on the field, conferred with the committee in 
charge and decided that the mission should be 
erected into a regular appointment at the next meet- 
ing of the Conference. This body assembled in Wor- 
cester on the 27th of March, when the Rev. S. E. 
Chase was appointed the first pastor in charge. 
From that time a regular preaching service was held 
in the third story of Scofield's block. The first con- 
gregation consisted of twenty persons. On the 2.'5d ol 
April various plans and estimates for a church edifice 
were presented to the committee, and the result was 
that a contract was closed for a partial completion of 
the building at a cost of eighty-eight hundred dol- 
lars. On the 8th of May following the church was 
organized with eighteen members by Rev. L. Crowell, 
the presiding elder. Hard work and dark hours be- 
cause of limited means followed this beginning. But 
through the zeal and labors, notably of Alpheus 
Walker and N. H. Clark, the building wa.s completed 
at a cost of thirteen thousand dollars, and on the liJthof 
April, 1873, w:is dedicated. In JIarch, 1872, the mis- 
sion had been named Christ Chapel, liut in January, 
1883, it received the name of Union Hill M. E. 
Church. Still another change was made on the 24th 
of April, 187t), when it assumed the name of Coral 
Street M. E. Church. Mr. Chase remained in charge 
for three years and was then succeeded by the Rev. 
H. D. Weston. In 1875 a vestry was built at a cost of 
three thousand dollars and dedicated in December of 
the same year. In the spring of 1878 the Rev. 
Jesse Wagner was appointed to the charge. His 
term of service closed in April, 1881, when he was 
succeedefl by the Rev. Austin F. Ilerrick. About 
this time serious financial complications threatened 
the existence of the society. A compromise was at 
last hapfdly ed'ected, whereby claims to the amount of 
fifteen thousand dollars were canceled and a solid 
financial basis securcil. In April, 1883, the Rev. 
Charles Young came in charge and remained till 
April, 188d, when the Rev. William I'. Ray became 
his succ<»sor. 

Ro.MAN (;atii<)I,1(s. — The canal and the railroad 
were the means of bringing Roman Catholicism into 
Worcester. First came the digging of the Blackstone 
Canal from Worcester to Providence; this brought 
many Irish laborers to Worcester and vicinity. The 
construction of the Boston and Worcester Railroad 
followed, bringing many more. Thi-se people and 



28 



ECCLESIA8TICAL HLSTORy OF WORCESTER. 



their families naturally desired the kind ot spiritual 
guidance to which they had heen accustomed. As 
they found nothing of the kind then in Worcester, 
they asked Bishop Fenwick, of Boston, to send them 
a priest. In answer to this application, the bishop 
sent them the Rev. James Fitton, a recent student of 
his, then just settled in Hartford, Conn. This led to 
the inclusion of Worcester in the "missionary cir- 
cuit" to which Mr. Fitton had also been appointed. 
He came to Worcester in 1834, and in the spring of 
that year held the first religious service of the Roman 
Catholic Church. It was held in the old stone build- 
ing, still standing, on Front Street near the line of the 
old Blackstone Canal, the front wall, however, being 
now of brick. At that time only .six or seven families, 
embracing about twenty-five persons, were enlisted. 
In the next year the first Roman Catholic church in 
Worcester was erected on the site now occupied by 

St. John's Church.— It was named Christ Church, 
and was a wooden structure thirty-two by sixty-four 
feet. This sufticed until 1845, when it was removed 
to make way for St. John's. Christ Church, after its 
removal, received additions and became the "Catholic 
Institute." The corner-stone of St. John's Church 
was laid on the 27th of May, 1845, with imposing 
ceremonies, under the episcopal supervision of Bishop 
Fitzpatrick ; and on the 24th of June, 184G, the 
church was dedicated with still more imposing cere- 
monies. The dimensions of the building were sixty- 
five by one hundred and thirty-six feet, and for a long 
time it was the largest church in the region. The 
cost was forty thousand dollars. It wi»3 ample for the 
whole Roman Catholic poiuilation, which at that time 
embraced only about thirteen hundred souls. Father 
Fitton, who may well be styled the father of Roman- 
ism in Worcester, left the town in 1843, and returned 
to Boston, where he was born, and where later ou he 
died. He w.as a man of some literary parts and the 
author of several volumes. The Rev. A. Williamson 
succeeded Mr. Fitton in October, 1843, and remained 
till April, 1845, when he resigned because of ill health. 
His successor was the Rev. Mathew W. Gibson, who 
was characterized as "a man of great energy and 
power." He remained in the pastorate till April, 
175G, and was largely instrumental in building not 
only St. John's, but also St. Anne's, spoken of further 
ou. After Father Gibson came the Rev. John Boyce, 
who had been his predecessor's assistant. He died in 
1864, while in charge, greatly regretted. He, too, was 
a writer of merit, "an able writer of fiction," and the 
author, among other things, of " Paul Peppergrass." 
His birthplace was Donegal, Ireland, and Maynooth 
was his alma mater. The Ke\. Patrick T. O'Reilly, 
D.D., afterwards bishop of the diocese, was the suc- 
cessor of Father Boyce as pastor of St. John's. From 
1857 to 1862 he had been the assistant pastor. In the 
latter year he removed to Boston, whence he returned 
to become the pastor of the Worcester church. Upon 
his elevation to the bishopric, in 1870, his assistant, 



the Rev. Thomas Griffin, was appointed to the pastor- 
ate of St. John's. 

St. Anne's Church. — This church was an offshoot of 
St. John'.s. Commenced in 1855, it was completed 
in 1856, under the direction of the Rev. John J. 
Power, who became its first pastor. He remained 
such until 1872, when the Rev. Dennis Scannell was 
i appointed to the place, which he still held in 1888. 
In 1884-85 came a great enlargement and aggrandize- 
ment by the erection of "new St. Anne's." The old 
church was of wood, and the new one of brick and 
stone. The old one stood on the low level of the un- 
sightly "meadow," hard by; the new one, placed on 
a sharp elevation, was made a conspicuous object of 
admiration for all beholders. The dimensions of the 
edifice were seventy by one hundred and fifty-seven 
feet. The auditorium has a capacity for seating 
one thousand one hundred persons. Twin towers, 
rising to a lofty hight, form a distinguishing feature 
of this imposing edifice. It is one of the co.stliest 
churches in the city. 

St. Paul's Church. — This church was formed on the 
4th day of July, 18<)9, and on the same day the cor- 
ner-stone of the superstructure was laid with appro- 
priate ceremonies. The basement had been com- 
pleted and served as a place for public worship until 
July 4, 1874, when the church itself (save the tower) 
was finished and dedicated. It is a Gothic structure, 
of cathedral proportions, with a facade of ninety 
feet in width, and with a length of one hundred and 
eighty-five feet, and stands upon elevated ground in 
the heart of the city. It is constructed of granite 
throughout, and cost two hundred thousand dollars. 
When its tower shall have been completed, according 
to theoriginal plan, it will overtop anyother structure 
in the city. This noble edifice owes its origin and com- 
pletion to the Rev. John J. Power, D.D., the first and 
only pastor of St. Paul's, and the vicar-general of the 
diocese. 

Church of Xotre Dame. — This is the only French 
Catholic tUinich in Worcester. The fir.st movement 
toward its establishment was in 1869. Its name in 
full is " Church of Notre Dame des Canadiens." The 
first pastor was the Rev. J. J. Primeau. In 1870 the 
Methodist Church on Park Street was bought for its 
use ul a cost of thirty-two thousand seven hundred 
dollars. Here the first .Mass was celebrated in .Fune. 
1870. At the beginning the church embraced seven- 
teen hundred and forty-three souls, of whom eleven 
hundred and fifty-nine were communicants. In 
eleven years the first number had grown to be forty- 
three hundred, and the number of communicants to 
be twenty-five hundred, while in 1884 there were 
over five thousand souls. In 1880-81 the great in- 
crease of the congregation required an enlargement 
of the edifice, and the result was, in effect, a new 
structure. The plain old building was transformed, 
by fine architectural touches, into a handsome and 
spacious edifice, adding much to the surrounding at- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WOHCESTEH. 



2'.1 



traclioiisot'tbe historic Common upon which it lront«. 
The dimensions are fifty-four by one hundred and 
twenty-eiglit feet ; the cost of the improvements was 
thirty-five thousand dollars. Tiie pealing of the 
ange/iis from the massive bell in its tower daily re- 
minds the city of its existence and the faithful of 
their duty. .\fter Mr. Primeau's retirement the 
Rev. Isadore Beaudry became in 1882 the pastor, 
and in the following year he was succeeded by the 
Rev. Joseph Brouillet, who was in charge in 1888. 

Besides the church of Xotre Dame, Father Brouillet 
has charge of several French missions, which he es- 
tablished after coming to Worcester. The first of 
these was, — 

Si. Anne's. — This mission was established at South 
Worcester on the 0th of January, 1886. A house was 
purchased by Father Brouillet at a cost of five thou- 
sand dollars, and was converted into a temporary 
home for the mission. 

■Si'. Joseph's was established on the 9th of January, 
1887, at the corner of Wall and Xorfolk Streets, on 
Oak Hill, where a chapel was built in that year at a 
cost of sixty-five hundred dollars. Incipient meas- 
ures have been taken to add to the numlier of these 
missions. 

When Father Brouillet came in 188.'? he at once 
proceeded to take a census of the French Catholic 
population of Worcester, and found it to be eight 
thousand. According to his careful estimate, this 
had increased to nine thousand in 1888. Of that 
number four thousand were communicants. 

Church o/ the Imiii'iculate Conception. — This enter- 
prise wa.s inaugurated in February, 1872, under Bishop 
O'Reilly and Rev. Thomas Oriflin, chancellor of 
the diocese. The church was organized in November, 
1873 ; the erection of the church edifice was begun in 
the same year. In the next year the basement was 
completed and used for worship until December, 1878, 
when the wholi- superstructure was finished. It was 
dedicated by Father Power, vicar-general, with a 
large body of the priesthood a-ssisting. The building 
is seventy feet wide by one hundred and twenty-four 
feet long, and has eleven hundred and fifty sittings. 
The cost was thirty-five thousand dollars. Rev. Rob- 
ert Walsh became the pastor in 1K74, and has re- 
mained Hucli ever since. 

Church iif the Sticreil Heart. — This, the sixth Roman 
Catholic church in chronological order, is located on 
Cambridge Street, at New Worcester. On the 2(1 of 
July, 1870, the first exiavations for the building were 
made; and on the 14tli of .'September following the 
corner-stone wiii< laid by Bishop O'lteilly. On the 
'24th of .lanuary, 1HH(|, the parish wni organized, and 
ut the same time the Rev. Thomas J. Conaty, axsis- 
lant at St. John's Church, was appointed its first pas- 
tor. The superstructure was finished, and the base- 
ment furnished for use on Kasler .Sunday of the simie 
year. On the 21nt of SepteuibtT, 1884, the ainlilorium 
was opened for 'public service iin>l the church was 



then dedicated. There are eight hundred sittings in 
the basement and eight hundred and forty in the 
auditorium. The Sunday school has a membership 
of six hundred. The organization of total abstinence 
Societies in this parish has been made a conspicuous 

' feature by the pastor. The several societies for 
young men, young ladies and boys include three 
hu!uired and fifty members. The cost of the parish 
property was about eighty thousand dollars. 

t!t. Peter's Church. — 'I'his church stands on the 
corner of Main and Grand Streets. The corner-stone 
was laid on Sunday, the 7th of September, 1884, by 
Bishop O'Reilly, under the sui)ervision of the pastor. 
Rev. Daniel H. O'Neill. The event was marked by 
a great military disi)hiy, with a procession of various 
orders through Main Street. The vicar-general and 
the chancellor of the diocese were also present assist- 

j ing. The building is of brick, with granite trimmings, 
seventy feet by one hundred and thirty, with a mas- 
sive tower, ninety-eight feet high. It has a seating 
capacity for one thousand, but for the present public 
worship is held in the basement. 
St. Stephen's Church. — This church is on Grafton 

I Street, at the corner of Caroline. It was founded in 

■ 1887, and is the most recently organized church of this 

order. The Rev. R. S. J. Burke was the pastor in 1888. 

The Roman Catholic population of Worcester, 

I other than that of French descent, was supposed to be 
about twenty-five thousand in the year 1888. 

Episcopalians. — The parishes of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in Ma8.sachusetts are organized 
under a special statute. This provides that the rec- 
tor or one of the wardens, unless other provision is 
made in the by-laws, may preside at meetings with 
;ill the powers of a moderator; and the wardens, or 
wardens and vestry, may exercise all the powers ol a 
standing committee. To secure as much uniformity 
as possible, the " Convention '' of this church prints 
with its annual journals, and recommends for adop- 
tion, a standing form of by-laws for the government 
of the |)arishes. Among other things this Form pro- 
s'ides that the wardens shall be communicants and 
that all otficers shall be baptized men; that the rec- 
tor, wardens, treasurer, clerk and vestrymen shall 
constitute "the vestry;" and that the rector shall be 
chosen by the parish, or by the vestry, when so au- 
ihorized by the parish. A noticeable leature of this 
Form, in its latest expression, is, that "any person," 
subject to the other conditions, may become a mem- 
ber ol the parish. In earlier editions of the Form tlie 
words used are "any male person." Provision is 
(bus made for the admission of women to a parlner- 
shi)) in the management of Protestant Episcopal par- 
ishes. This change in the direction of progress con- 
forms also to the statutes of the Commonwealth. 
In general but not altogether exact accordance with 
these provisions, the Protestant Efiiscopal parishrs 
in Worcester have been organized, 'i'he oldest, and 
the mother of the ri-st, is the parish of 



30 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WORCESTER. 



All Saints. — The beginnings of the Episcopal 
Church in Worcester are reported by the late Judge 
Ira M. Barton in two letters written in the year 1835, 
but first printed in the year 1888. From this con- 
temporary and authentic source of information it 
appears that in the former year Dr. Wainwright vis- 
ited Worcester " to see as to the practicability of 
establishing a church here." An arrangement was 
then made for services in the Central Church, but 
through a misunderstanding it fell through. This 
failure was less discouraging tlian the difficulty in 
finding persons " to sustain the burden." "No such 
persons have yet offered themselves," wrote Judge 
Barton under date of October 2d. A little later the 
prospect had brightened. Under date of December 
13th he wrote: "Regular church services were, for 
the first time, held in Worcester to-day." At that 
first meeting there were present "some sixty people." 
The preacher on the occasion was the Rev. Thomas 
H. Vaill, then in deacon's orders only. And now 
the time had arrived when this enterprise toolc to 
itself a body and a name by an act of incorporation 
under the style of the " Proprietors of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in Worcester." The act bears 
date of April 8, 1836, and the incorporators named in 
the act are Thomas H. Vail), Ira Barton and Edward 
F. Dixie. The experiment was fairly begun. For 
six months Mr. Vaill continued his ministrations anil 
then left " thoroughly discouraged." As the present 
bishop of Kansas he still lives to look back upon 
tliis day of small things. Seven years of silence fol- 
lowed his departure, when, in 1842, services were 
again begun, never afterwards to be intermitted. On 
Cliristmas day of that year the Rev. Fernando C. 
Putnam lield a service iu the chapel on Thomas 
street belonging to the Central Church. Mr. Put- 
nam was succeeded by the Rev. Henry Black- 
aller. 

With Mr. Blackaller as minister in charge, 
Thomas Bottomly and Charles S. Ellis as wardens 
and Edwin Eaton as clerk, the first church of thi.s 
order was well on its foundations. It continued, 
however, in a low condition until 1844, when the 
Rev. George T. Chapman, D.D., came and applied 
his sturdy shoulders to the work of upbuilding. Dr. 
Chapman had a zeal for his church. Organizing and 
.assisting churches in various parts had been his self- 
appointed mission, and now the feeble church in 
Worcester was to feel the good effects of his help. 
Coming at Easter, he remained in charge of the parish 
for two full years. At the end of that time he gave 
place to the Rev. George H. Clark, who became the 
first regularly chosen an<l settled rector of All Saints. 
In January, 1849, Mr. Clark resigned because of ill 
health, and the Rev. N. T. Bent succeeded to the 
office. Mr. Bent remained till the spring of 1852, 
when the Rev. Archibald M. Morrison became the 
rector. At the end of four years, illness in his family 
compelled him to lay down his charge. A perio<l of 



three years now elapsed in which All Saints was 
without a rector. In this time the Rev. William H. 
Brooks and the Rev. Albert Patterson were the min- 
isters in charge. But in December, 1859, the Rev. 
E. W. Hager became the rector, and so remained till 
August, 1802, when he resigned his place. 

At the close of the year 18()2 began the ministry of 
the Rev. William R. Huntington, which was destined 
to change the whole face of things for Episcopacy in 
Worcester. His ministry of twenty-one years was a 
period of constant and rapid growth. Dr. Hunting- 
ton found his Church of All Saints feeble and left it 
strong. He found it poorly housed and left it rejoic- 
ing in one of the most beautiful and costly of our 
churches. He found it solitary and left it the mother 
of children, born and to be born. And yet, at the 
close of his ministry, he was moved to say that, " in 
the whole English-speaking world there is probably 
not a city of the size of ours in which the Episcopal 
Church is numerically so weak as ours." That this 
reproach is now measurably taken away is owing 
more to his agency and influence than to any other. 
It was on the 3d of December, 1862, that Dr. Hun- 
tington was both ordained and inducted in'o the rec- 
torship of All Saints. His ministry began in the 
church on Pearl Street which had been erected in 
1846 after plans drawn by Upjohn of New York. 
Dr. Huntington described it as " a beautiful specimen 
of rural architecture." It remained as originally built 
until 1860, when it was altered to gain additional sit- 
tings. In the course of twenty-eight years it was four 
times reconstructed: then, on Easter night, April 7, 
1874, it was destroyed by fire. This was the signal 
for removal and enlargement. 

On the 15th of May a committee was empowered to 
build a church and chapel ; on the 29th of December 
ground was broken at the corner of Irving and 
Pleasant Streets; on the 13th of May following the 
first stone was i>ut in place ; on the 21st of .fuly the 
corner-stone was laid ; and on the 4th of January, 
1877, the finished building was consecrated by Bishop 
Paddock. Church, chapel and parish building are 
grouped in one capacious structure. All the walls, 
including bell-tower and spire to the finial, are of red 
sandstone. The pulpit of the Pearl Street Church, a 
gift from iMuanuel Church in Boston, rescued from 
the flames and erected for use in the now church, is a 
memorial of continuity ; while encrusted in the inte- 
rior wall of the tower-porch are stone relics of media-- 
val architectural ornament, given by the dean and 
chapter of Worcester (England) Cathedral, as a token 
of" brotherly regard and cluuch unity." 

Having <leclined various calls from ditterent bodies 
to important ecclesiastical offices, — one, in 1874, to the 
ottice of bishop— Dr. Huntington at length accepted 
a call to the rectorship of Grace Church in New York, 
and in 1883 severed his long connection with All 
Saints'. By his published writings, by his unwearied 
fidelity to his parochial charge and by his wise ac- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WORCESTER. 



:^.i 



tivity in the Church Conventions, he had come to be 
:i power in his own coninuininn. 

Shortly alter the termination of |)r. Huntington's 
serviee, the Rev. Lawrence H. Schwab became the 
minister in charge. He was succeeded by the Rev. 
Alexander H. Vinton, who was chosen to be the rec- 
tor on the 2Sth of April, 1884, and who assumed the 
office in September tVdlowing. Under bis ministry 
the prosperity of the parish wa.s continued. The 
luimber of coniniunicants last reported was about four 
hundred. 

Parish «J Si. Miit/hac. — In the winter of 1809 a mis- 
sion chapel fund of $721.21 was raised from a Christmas 
sale by the women of All Saints. This wjis the germ 
of the parish of St. Matthew. Additions were made 
to the fund from time to time, and in 1871 a mission was 
established at South Worcester. An association of 
communicants in All Saints was formed, with the 
rector of that parish as tnistee, and by them an estate 
was bought at the corner of Southliridge and Wash- 
burn Streets. t)n this site a chapel was completed in 
September of the same year, and on St. Matthew's 
day, February 24, 1875, it w.is opened for public wor- 
ship. The Rev. John (iregson, assistant minister at 
All Saints, was made the minister in charge, and heso 
remained for nearly a year. After him Mr. Thomas 
Mackay acted ;us lay reader until the following Octo- 
ber, when the Rev. Thomas A. Robertson si-ssunied 
the charge and continued in it for a period of nine 
months. Mr. Mackay then resumed his post, and 
with other lay readers held services until January 1, 
1874, when the Rev. Henry .Mackay became the min- 
i.ifter in charge. This continued until the spring of 
that year; then the mission was organized with 
Henry I,. I'arker and .Matthew .T. Whittall as war- 
dens. The Rev Mr. Mackay remained the minister 
in charge until .Tuly, 1875. In April, 1870, the Rev. 
Amos Skeele was called to the rectorship, which he 
retained for several months; but in April, 1877, the 
church was agaiti without a rector and Sunday ser- 
vices were cared for by the Rev. George S. I'aine, of 
Worcester. To him succeeded the Rev. Ale.xaniler 
Mackay Smith, assistjint at All Saints, by whom, it 
was said, "wonderful work was done." .January 1, 
IX'H, the Rev. (Jeorge K. Osgood became the rector, 
and in September the church was " renovute<l " and 
again opened for public worship. .Ml inciindiramcs 
having been at length removed an<l a dee<l of the lanil 
given by Humner I'ratt, St. Matthew's Church (or 
chapel) was consei'rattKl on (^uin<|uagesima Sunday in 
18H(I. .Mr. Osgood having resigned the rectorship 
.latiuary 10, IK.SI.on the 8lli of April following the 
lti-v..l. H. Waterbury became the rector but resigned 
in November of the same year. He, however, re- 
maine<l in charge until his death, which occurred in 
the next spring. In the summer of 18H2 land for a par- 
ish building was secured no the corner of .Smlbbriilge 
and Cambridge ."streets, and in the conrse of the season 
St. Matthew's Hall w:m erected upon it. In August the 



Rev. Henry Hague assumed the charge of St. Mat- 
thew in connection with that of St. Thomas at Cherry 
X'alley. In February, 18S8, the number of coniniu- 
nicants was one hundred and seventy-five, and the 
value of the parish property $7,500, less an incum- 
brance of :?l,25l). Thus, from asniall beginning, with 
a frei|ueiitly changing ministry, this parish had slowly 
grown lliiougli a period of nineteen years, until it 
appears to have come to rest on a permanent founda- 
tion. For its success much was due to the fostering 
care of Dr. Huntington. 

Parish of fill. John. — This parish was organizinl as 
part of a broad and long-cherished plan of Dr. 
Huntington. A scheme of four missions, enibryons 
(if four churches in ditferent sections of the city, 
named after the four Fvangelists, was what he had 
conceived and steadily aimed to realize. St. John's 
was the second in the order of the plan. It was be- 
gun by the formation of a Sunday-school, March 11, 
1883. The first nieeling was held in an upper room 
on the corner of Lincoln Square and Main l^treet, 
and the first church service was held by the Rev. 
Henry Hague, of St. Mattliew's, on the 0th of Jan- 
uary, 1884. On the 'Jth of March following, the first 
regular Sunday service was held by the Rev. John 
.S. IJens, general missionary of the diocese. On the 
'.)th of March the Rev. Kdward S. Cross began work 
with the mission, and on the loth of .\|iril took for- 
mal charge. On the 2l8t of the same month land for 
a church was bought on Lincoln street; on the IStli 
of May ground was broken ; and .luly 5th the corner- 
stone was laid. On the 18th of September, 1884, 
the parish was organized under the laws of the 
state. Mr. Cross, the minister in charge, preached 
his farewell sermon on the ISHh of Octf>lier. and on 
the 30tb of November, in the same year, the Rev. 
Francis C. Burgess entered upon his duties as the 
first rector of the new parish. I'ublic worship in the 
churtrh was lieM for the fii-st time on Christmas Day. 
For a time the free church system was tried, but was 
soon abaniloncd, yet so as in the hope that under 
more favorable conditions it might he afterwards re- 
sumed. In the first four months of parish life the 
average congregation and the number of communi- 
cants increa.sed lwo-fi>ld. This growth continued 
until, in 1S87, it was (iiund desirable to enlarge the 
ebnreh in order to gain more sittings. This was ac- 
cordingly done, at a cost somewhat exceeding $2tiiM». 
j In 1888 the money to defray this cost had all been 
subscribeil and paid, liy this enlargement the whole 
number of sittings was increased to 308. At the 
last-named date the cbiireb and land were valued at 
#I7,(MM), u|ion whirli there rested a debt of ^il.'itlii. 
The number of communicantN at this time was 2(l*.i. 
This year witnesseil a new departure for Kpiscopacy 
in Worcester by the union of SI. John's with the Cen- 
tral ((/'ongrcgational) Church in the observance of 
Lent. Services were held alternately in the two 
cliiircbrs, conducted alternately by the two ministers. 



32 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WORCESTER. 



Clergyuu'ii from abniiid were also brought in to as- 
sist in this fraternal recognition, of whom chiefly to 
be mentioned are the Rev. Dr. Phillips Brooks and 
the Rev. Dr. Samuel Herrick, botli of Boston. If 
any ill came out of this unwonted fraternization, it 
was never publicly reported. On the contrary, the 
continued prosperity of St. John's seemed to bear 
witness that this new departure was a safe step in 
the line of progress. 

Parish of St. Mark's Church. — In the order of time 
this was the third in the scheme of four churches 
which Dr. Huntington set on foot. But not till some 
years after he had gone from Worcester did a good 
opportunity for inaugurating the enterprise present 
itself. At length the founding of Clark University, 
in the spring of 1887, became tlie signal for moving. 
That great educational project causing a marked ad- 
vance in the jirice of real estate in the quarter selected 
for St. Mark's Mission, spurred on its friends to make 
haste and secure a suitable lot for church purposes. 
The purchase of a lot was the only object of the first 
meeting, which was in September, 1887; but this 
very speedily led to the formation of a mission by the 
name of St. Mark's Mission. A place for meeting 
was secured, and about October 1st a Sunday-school 
was opened. Public worship was held for the tirst 
time on the 23d of October, by the Rev. Alex. H. 
Vinton, rector of All Saints, other clergymen in and 
out of the city assisting. After this date the services 
of the Rev. Thomas W. Nickerson of Rochdale were 
secured. He continued to officiate until the Easter 
following, when the Rev. Langdon C. Stewardson 
took charge of the missio.i. He came fresh from a 
three years' course of theological study in the uni- 
versities of Germany, prior to which he had been for 
five years rector of a church in Webster. " Under 
his lea(iershi|>,'' says a competent authority, "the 
mission has made a progress which is believed to be 
unprecedented in the history of this diocese." The 
number of communicants, about forty at Easter, had 
nearly doubled within the next five months. From 
the beginning the mission was independent and self- 
reliant. No aid from any outside source was accepted. 
On the otlicr hand, the mission, in that brief period, 
had raised out of its own resources the sum of twelve 
thousand two hundred dollars. With part of this the 
lot for church and chapel, already spoken of, was 
purchased on the corner of Main and Freeland Streets. 
On the Gtli of September, 1888, the corner-stone of the 
chapel to be erected on this lot was laid, a solid silver 
trowel, given by Mrs. ICUen Lawson ( iard, wife of its 
maker, being used in the ceremony. An imposing 
aspect was given to the occasion. At five o'clock in 
the afternoon nine clergymen from the city and other 
|)arts, with Dr. Huntington of New York, the origi- 
nator of the enter))ri8c, at their head, marched down 
the street in surplices and took their places by the 
corner-stone. When the ceremonial act was com- 
pleted. Dr. Huntington made a brief addre.ss, admir- 



able alike for its substance, expression and tone. 
" Rarely," said he, " is the building of a church under 
such assured circumstances. Youhaveamarvelously 
chosen building site, you are in perfect harmony 
among yourselves, and your leader you love aijd trust. 
What more do you want? Is it the money to com- 
plete the building? That is a very doubtful advan- 
tage. The very fact that it is lacking is a spur to 
never-failing eflbrt." Again he said : " We lay this 
stone in charity. If there are any within the hearing 
of my voice not of this household of faith " (and there 
were many) " let them not feel di.srjuieted. We come 
not as destroyers, but maintainers of peace ; not to 
divide, but to unite. The Episcopal Church sees in 
itself a great reconstructing influence. . . . There 
is one object, one purpose, and that the purpose of 
building up the kingdom of God." The plan con- 
templates in its ultimate realization a chapel and 
church of red sandstone throughout. 

St. Luke's Church, the fourth and only one remain- 
ing to complete Dr. Huntington's quadrilateral of 
churches, in his own words uttered at the laying of 
St. Mark's corner-stone, " bides its time." 

UNivERS.iLlsTS — First Utiiversalist Church. — The 
first Universalist Society was formed on the 3d day of 
.lune, 1841, in accordance with the laws of Massachu- 
setts. So said the Rev. Stephen Presson Landers in 
his historical address delivered a quarter of a century 
afterwards. Mr. Landers was the first pastor and had 
preached his sermon in Brinley Hall on the 2d of May 
previous. In the summer and autumn ten thousand 
dollars were subscribed fo'' building a church. The 
pastor himself subscribed " more than he was worth." 
A very choice and central site on the corner of Main 
and Foster streets was bought for a little more than 
$1.25 a square foot. But " stagnant water " caused 
delay. In 1842 a further subscription of more than 
i\ve thousand dollars was added to the former. Then, 
early in 1843, ground was broken, and on the 22d of 
November in the same year the house was dedicated 
with a sermon by the Rev. Dr. Miner, of Boston. On 
the evening of the same day " was the recognition of 
our small church,'' wrote tiie historian, and also its 
first communion with thirty-one participants. The 
pastorate of Jlr. Landers terminated on the 16th of 
June, 1844, when he preached Ids farewell sermon. 
His death occurred at Clinton, N. Y., on the loth of 
April, 187G, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. On 
thel2tiiof March, 1845, Rev. Albert t'ase was installed 
as hia successor. After somewhat more than four 
years he left his Worcester charge and engaged in 
secular business of various sorts. He was also settled 
again for a time as pastor at Hingham, Mass. He 
died at the age of about seventy on the 29th of 
December, 1877. It was noted of him, as a mark of 
great distinction, that he had, while in the Worcester 
pastorate, "attained to the thirty-third degree, the 
highest of the Masonic grades in the world." His 
successor, the Rev. Ohadiah Horsford Tillotson, was 



ECCLESIASTICAL IIISTOI'.V OK WOUCKSTKU 



iuatalled on the 27th of June, lS4y. During his 
pastorate the increase of the rongregation was such 
as t" require more sittiufps in the cliurch. To secure 
that end palierics were c<)nstrucle<i in 18^1. Mr. 
Tillotson preached his farewell sermon on the 3l3t of 
October, 1852. Meantime he had become a student- 
at-law and practitioner in the office of .Judge Chapin, 
of Worcester ; hut finding the pursuit uncongenial, 
he resumed his former [imfession, to which he devoted 
himself for the reuuiindcr of his life. On the 19th of 
June, IStiS, he fell a victim to consumption in the 
forty -eighth year of his age. His succeasor, coming 
in April, 18.'>3, was the Rev. John Greenleaf Adams, 
D.D. After a highly successful pastorate of seven 
years he gave place to the Rev. Lindley Murniy 
Kurrington, who. after a year and four months, was 
compelled to resign because of long-continued illness. 
His term of service closed on the 1st of .Tanuary, 
1862. To him succeeded the Rev. Thomas Elliot St. 
John, who was inducted into office on the Ist of April 
in that year. With him began a new departure. 
The church was reorganized by the adoption of a 
new Declaration of Faith and a Constitution. This 
had seemed to be necessary l)ecause of changes grow- 
ing out of " removals, withilrawals and forfeitures." 
Having put the church on this new footing, Mr. St. 
,Iohn closed his tirst pastorate in June of 1866 to be- 
come the pa.stor of a church in Chicago. After the 
intervening pa.storate of Rev. Benjamin Franklin 
Bowles, who came on the 1st of October, 1866, and 
left December, 1, 1868, Mr. St. .John resumed his old 
Worcester pulpit on the Ist of February, 1869, and 
continued to occupy it till April 1, 1879. Within 
this period the tine new church edifice on Plesmant 
Street was erected and occupied. .M'ter leaving Wor- 
cester, Mr. St. .lolin pursued his ministry in various 
places until the autumn of 1881, when he accepted a 
call to the Unitarian Church in Haverhill, Miuss. 
His successor, the Rev. Moses Henry Harris, entered 
upon his ministry with this church on the -'ith of 
October, 1.S79. .Mr. Harris was a native of Greene, 
in tilt State of Maine. He was graduated from the 
Canton Theological School in 1867, and had his first 
aettlement in the ministry at Brattleborough, Vt., in 
1870. From that pastorate of nine years and three 
months he came to Worcester. In 188.0 the " Win- 
chester Confession " was adopted by this church :is a 
Declaration of Faith in place of the Declaration 
which had been adopted in I8ri2; the Constitution 
was ali*o amended and the list of membership re- 
vised. The church then embraced one hundred and 
fifty-five mirnibers. 

A/l Siuli C'liurrli. — "In the spring of IHH'.i u com- 
mittee was ap|K)intcd at a nn'ctili(.' of the First I'lil- 
versalist Church to see if a riHim could be hired at 
the south part of the city in which Ui open a .Mission 
Sunday-school for the extension of our church work 
ill Worcester." This was the beginning of the Sec- 
ond Univcrsalist (.'liurrh. No suititble room could 



be hired; tluii two friends of the cause, who " could 
not let the movement die for want of a place, ollered 
the free use of their rooms." Accordingly, at one of 
these rooms, in the house of Mrs. Martin Russell, 
No. 10 May Street, the new school was organized on 
;lie afternoon of .lanuary 27, 1884. On the Wednes- 
day following, a prayer-meeting was inaugurated ; 
this and preaching by Mr. Harris, of the First Church, 
wore maintained alternately throughout the winter. 
The natural result of this devotion to the work was 
growth; by spring " more room" was found neces- 
sary and this led up to thought of building. Money 
was not abundant, and Mrs. Lucy A. Stone, seeing 
the need, gave the land on which to build a chapel. 
Another act of encouragement was the gift of one 
hundred dollars by the sister of a former paslor of 
the First Church. As the women had been thus 
active in begiiuiiiig the enterprise, so they were relied 
upon to carry it forward. Accordingly, '" at a meeting 
to form a parish held on the Slst of July, 1884," 
.Mrs. Stone and Mrs. Russell, were appointed to obtain 
subscriptions for the purpose of building a chapel. 
The result of their etl'orts was a subscription of one 
thousand three hundred and two dollars. By the 
last of October the building was begun and before 
the cold weather could interrupt was completed. In 
just one year from the time the Sunday school had 
been organized the chapel was dedicated. This was 
on the 27ih of .laiuiary, ISS."). On the 21st of June 
following the church was duly instituted. During 
the summer the pulpit was supplied by Rev. Lee H. 
Fisher, a student at Tufts College. His services proved 
so acceptable that he was engaged to continue them 
till the next annual meeting. On the 1st of April, 
18S6, the Rev. Frederic W. Bailey entered upon his 
duties as first pastor of All Souls. Mr. Bailey imme- 
diately set about providing for a church edifice. 
Through his ellorts the sum of three thousand four 
hundred dollars was obtained, with which a lot on the 
corner of Woodland and Norwood Streets was pur- 
chased, and the same was conveyed to the jiarish on 
the 20tli of .March, 1H87. How to raise the money for 
the building of the cbiirch w:us the iie.\t and more 
pressing t|ue8tion. This was happily solved by Mr. 
James \. Norcross, of the famous firm of Norcro.ss 
Brothers, builders, by the gift of fifteen thousand 
dollars in th<' name of himself and his wife, .Mary Iv. 
upon three conditions: Ist, That the parish should 
raise seven thousand otherwise than by incumbrance 
on the property ; 2d, That a certain room in the pro- 
posed eilifice Bhould be legally conveyed to Mr. Nor- 
cross and bis heirs; and ltd. that the Ibllowing in- 
scriptions should be pliiccil on the front of the edilice : 
" In iiiemory of our l'°albers and .Mothers who an- in 
I leaven. (Jur liojie is to meet them in that liravciilv 
home;" and "All ."^oiils Universnlisl Church Kdi- 
fice." The e.xacl form of the gift was, " all the 
hruwnstone rc<|uired for the exterior of All .Souls 
L'niventalist I'liiirrli cm ami set in place." It was 



34 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WORCESTEK. 



assumed that fifteen thousand dolhirs would cover 
this expense. Mr. Norcross' proposition was pre- 
sented on the 9th of November, in a long letter full 
of details. On the 20th All Souls Parish had a 
meeting, accepted the proposal, unanimously voted 
thanks to the donors, and took measures to comply, 
with the first condition. The proposed building is of 
uiiiijue design, of bold architecture and studied sim- 
plicity. The main structure is seventy feet square 
with a round tower one hundred and fifty feet high 
on the corner of the streets. The principal audience- 
room is designed to seat about five hundred per- 
sons ; other rooms adapted for all modern church re- 
quirements are embraced within the plan. It will 
be a central attraction for the important neighbor- 
hood in that quarter of the city. 

Friends. — "Meeting" and "meeting-house'' are 
characteristic terms among the Friends. The Prepara- 
tive, or, as it is called in England, Particular Meeting, is 
the unit. Several of these constitute a Monthly Meet- 
ing; these in turn constitute a Quarterly Meeting, and 
several Quarterly Meetings constitute the Yearly Meet- 
ing. The Monthly Meeting, which is the lowest cor- 
porate body, takes and holds property through trus- 
tees of its own appointing, for the benefit of its Pre- 
parative constituencies. All meeting-houses are so 
held. The Preparative Meeting exercises no disci- 
pline over its members. Discipline is administered 
by the Monthly Meeting upon an overture or com- 
plaint from the Preparative Meeting. Any party not 
satisfied with the discipline dealt out by this body 
may appeal to the Quarterly Meeting and to the 
Yearly Meeting in the last resort. There is no sala- 
ried minister, no sacrament, no set singing, no vot- 
ing, no business official except a clerk. The clerk 
is the one important and sufficient official. He re- 
cords no votes, since there are none to record ; but he 
" takes the sense" or con.sensu3 of the meeting, and 
makes a minute of that. This sense he gathers from 
what any Friend nuiy choose to say at the meeting. 
Having made his minute, he reads it, and if it is ap- 
proved it stands as the sense of the meeting; and so 
standing, it is as binding and absolute as a vote else- 
where. In this way the clerk himself is made such. 
In this way one Friend may become an "approved 
minister" and another, because of bad behavior, 
may become " disowned." 

From 181(i to 1837 families of Friends residing in 
Worcester went up to worship at Mulberry Grove, in 
Leicester. Later on they obtained leave to hold a 
Particular Meeting in Worcester. The place of meet- 
ing at first was in a room over Hoyden & Fenno's 
jewelry store, in Paine's block. But in 184C they 
built their present meeting-house on land given by 
.\nthony Cliase and Samuel H. Colton, two leading 
members of the Society. After this the Mulberry 
(irove Meeting gradually diminished and finally died 
out. The Worcester Meeting became a part of Ux- 
bridge Afonthly Meeting, of which the Uxbridge and 



Northbridge Preparative Meetings were the remain- 
ing constituent parts. The Uxbridge Monthly Meet- 
ing is held in the three places just named twelve 
times a year, five of which are in Worcester. In due 
gradation, Uxbridge Monthly Meeting belongs to 
Smithfield (R. I.) Quarterly Meeting, and this to the 
New England Yearly Meeting, which is now held al- 
ternately at Newport, E. I., and Portland, Me. 

The Worcester Meeting, though small in numbers, 
has included some of the best known, most worthy 
and most prosperous of her citizens. The names of 
Chase, Colton, Earle, Hadwen, Arnold and others 
have figured prominently in the past history of the 
city. Anthony Chase was for a generation the treas- 
urer of Worcester County ; John Milton Earle was 
known far and wide as the proprietor and editor of 
that child and champion of the Revolution, The Mas- 
nac/iuxetts Spy; Edward Earle becamemayor of the city. 
But the Friends of Worcester have special reason to 
remember the name of Timothy K. Earle as one of 
the three principal benefactors of the Society. Choos- 
ing to be his own executor, Mr. Earle, shortly before 
his death, which occurred on the 1st of October, 1881, 
made a gift of 4v3O00 to Uxbridge Monthly Meet- 
ing, to be held in trust for the benefit of Worcester 
Preparative Meeting. The fund was to accumulate 
for ten years; then the income was to be used for 
repairs and improvement of the meeting-house. The 
surplus above what might be used for this purpose, 
when it should reach the sum of :?200U, was to be set 
aside as a fund for rebuilding in case of fire. On the 
other hand, if the meeting should ever come to an 
end, the deed of gift provided that the fund should 
be made over to the Friends' New England Boarding- 
School at Providence. Other gifts from other sources 
and for other purposes, but of less amounts, are also 
held in trust for this meeting. The clerk for a quar- 
ter of a century, first of the Worcester Meeting, and 
then of the Uxbridge Monthly Meeting, is James G. 
Arnold, a lineal descendant, through intermediate and 
unbroken generations of Friends, of Thomas Arnold, 
the earliest emigrant of the name and faith into the 
Providence and Rhode Island Plantations. But it must 
be said that the present prospects of the body do not 
justify the expectation that the future will be as the 
past. The number of members reported is about 
eighty, and this is less than it has been. 

Second Adventists. — The Second Advent move- 
ment in Worcester was made in anticipation of the 
fateful loth of February, 184;i. On Thanksgiving 
Day in 1842 a meeting was held in East City Hall, at 
which a committee was appointed to secure a hall 
and hire preachers. Thenceforward, for a period of 
time, meetings were liekl almost every evening. For 
a part of the time the " Upper City Hall " was occu- 
pied as the place of meeting. When the l.'ith of Feb- 
ruary came and went and the sun continued to rise 
and set as usual, the time for the world's crisis waa 
adjourned to a day in April. Disappointment then 



ErCLKSIASTICAL HTSToRV OF WORCESTER 



led to further adjournments, but as time wore on 
and showed no sijin of cominji to an end, the Advent- 
ists, who had been gathered out i>f ahnost every de- 
nomination. >;radually consolidated into a regular 
church organization. For the tirst seven or eight 
years no records were kept, because it was held to be 
inconsistent with the fuiidauieiital idea of .Vdventism. 
The first record appears under the date of .Vpril 14, 
IS.')!!, jind the first important thing recorded was the 
one Article of Associatiou. which served as the basis 
of organization. This was in the nature of both 
creed aud covenant. "The personal advent aud 
reigu of Christ on the earth renewed," was the dis- 
tinguishing belief, and the solemn agreement to be 
governed by the Bible as the rule of faith and prac- 
tice was the only covenant. Religious services were 
held in various halls until the year l$)>ti. when a 
chapel was built and dedicated. The building was 
erected on leased land on Central Street, at a cost of 
$3113.28. The dedication took place on the 14th of 
June. .V succession of elders ministered to the 
church until the l.'ith of December, 1870, when 
Elder 8. G. Mathewson was called to serve " one 
half the time." He remained in charge till October 
17, 1875, when he preached his farewell sermon. Of 
late years preachers have been supplied by a commit- 
tee chosen for that i)urpose. In ISS.'i the chapel was 
sold, and a hall for religious services secured in 
Clark's Block, on Main Street. In 1877 the member- 
shi|> was one hundred and forty-five, and one hundred 
and eighty-five in 188S. The amount of money an- 
nually rai.sed for current expenses and care of the 
poor of the church exceeds 5^2000, while contributions 
are made for missions abroad, and particular'y in 
India. 

Dlscii'LEs OK CllKlsT. — The church of which the 
lamented Garfield was a minister is an exotic in New 
England. It had its origin in Western Penn-sylvania 
and Ea.stern Ohio in the early part of the nineteenth 
century. Thence it spread through the Southwest 
and West until, in 1888, the number of ciunmunicanl.'* 
in the United States was reported to be about sev- 
en hundred thousand. Six universities, thirty- 
one colleges and six collegiate institutes provide the 
denomination with the higher educational facilities, 
while fifty-tiine mi.ssions in .lapaii, China, India, Tur- 
key, Africa and .\ustralia, jls well as other missions 
in various Kurojii-an cuutilrics, attest their zeal in the 
propagation of their faith. The central principle of 
the denomination is the union of all < 'hrislians on 
the basis of the Apostolic (.'hurch with the person of 
.Icsns Chri.<t as the only object of faith. Hence, dis- 
carding all sectarian names, they choose to denomi- 
nate themselves simply " I>isciples of Christ.'' They 
hold the great cardinal doctrines of the gospel but 
not in the terminology of the schools. They abjure 
speculative tenets touching Trinity an<l Unity but 
adhere to the " form of sounri words" given in the 
Scriptures eimcerning the Father, the Son and the 



Holy Spirit. Their polity is congregational, but they 
are not Congrcgationalists. Theirdistingnishing tenet 
is of baptism, but they are not altogether Baptists. 
They agree with the Baplisls as to the mode and sub- 
jects of baptism, but dill'er as to its design. While 
the Baptists baptize believers because they are for- 
given, the Disciples baptize them in order to secure 
the promised forgivenesss. " He that believeth and 
is baptized shall be saved." The state of salvation 
follows, not precedes, the baptizing as well as the be- 
lieving. Ba|)tisni will not save if repentance and 
faith are wanting. Baptismal regeneration they 
deny. Baptism is the only form nece.s.sary for admis- 
sion into the church ; there is no creed nor covenant. 
No one is excluded from the Ixird's .Supper, and this 
is observed every l..ord's Day. The New Testament 
is held to be the sole book of authority ; the Old Tes- 
tament is helpful, but not now authoritative. 

Only one church of this order exists in Worcester. 
It was organized on the 5th of August, IStiO, with 
two elders in charge of its spiritual interests and two 
deacons in charge of its temporal interests. There 
was no parish organization, but the church itself was 
incorporated with trustees annually chosen to hold 
the property. Their first house of worship was the 
old Central Chapel on Thomas Street. But the sur- 
roundings were unfavorable and they fell hampered 
in their work. They therefore, in September, ISSr), 
sold that property, and while making ready to build 
occupied the old Central Church on Main Street as a 
place of worshij). In the next month they purchased 
a lot on Main Street opposite King, and there pro- 
ceeded to erect an attractive church edifice at a cost 
in all of twenty-three thousand dollars. Its dedica- 
tion took place on the 12th of September, ISSli. In 
the twenty-eight years of its existence, the church 
has had for its ministers, William II. Hughes, Wil- 
liam liowzee, .Vlanson Wilcox, .1. M. Atwaler, T. 
\V. Cottingham, Frank N. Calvin and the present 
minister, I, A. Thayer, who came from New C'astle, 
Pennsylvania, and began his woVk in Worcester in 
October, 1887. To none of these do lliey apjdy the 
epithet Reverend, ;i8 the distinction of clergy aii<l 
laity is not recognized. In 1888 the membership of 
the church was three hundred and sevcnly-threc and 
that of the Sundayschool two hundred and fifty. 

FriKK Baitisth. — Two tenets — free will and free 
communion — distinguish the Free Baptists from other 
Baptists. They might perhaps be naineil the Armin- 
ian Bai>tists and the others the Calvinistic Baptists; 
but those names would not mark the radical distinc- 
tion growing out of the terms of communion. 
Enough that each has chosen its own name; "Bap- 
tists," pure and simple, ami " Free Baptists." This 
denomination had its origin in New Hampshire 
somewhat more than a century ago. Benjamin Kan- 
dall ha<I been a Congregationalist, afterwaids became 
a Bu|>tist, and then, by adopting and preaching the 
doctrines of the freedom of the will ami free eommu- 



36 



ECCLESIASTICAL HLSTOKY OF WORCKSTEK. 



nion, became the founder of the Free Baptist denom- 
ination. This was in ITSd. Within the century fol- 
lowing, churches of this faith multiplied and spread 
east and west, until now the membership throughout 
the country is reported to exceed eighty thousand. 
In the county of Worcester there are three churches, 
one of which is in the city. The first preliminary 
meeting here was held at the house of Newell Tyler, 
on the 1-ith of .September, 1880. Meetings continued 
to be held at intervals until the 7th of April, 1881, 
when the church was duly organized with thirty 
members. It continued to live without parish 
powers until the 8d of .Vugust, 1887, when by-laws 
were adopted preparatory to incorporation under 
Chapter 404 of the Acts of that year. On the Isl 
day of September following the church became a 
corporation by the name of the " First Free Baptist 
Church of Worcester." The Rev. A. J. Eastman, 
who had been the originator of the movement, was 
installed on the 7th of April, 1887, as the first pastor. 
and so continued for one year. The second pastoi' 
was the Rev. H. Lockhart. His term began on the 
1st of May, 1883, and terminated on the 1st of March, 
1887. On the 18th of May following the Rev. D. D. 
Mitchell became the pastor. The place of worship 
is " Free Baptist Hall," in Clark's Building, 4il:i 
Main Street. 

Afeican Chukcues — African Methodist Zion't, 
Church. — This church was organized in 1846. Its first 
place of worship was the "Centenary Chapel," which 
had been erected on Exchange Street in 1840, and 
which, at a later day, came into the hands of Zion's 
Church. The house was dedicated for this church 
in the year of its organization. Rev. Alexander 
Posey was the first pastor. To him succeeded the 
Rev. Levin Smith, in 1849. The third and most 
noteworthy pastor was the Rev. J. A. Mars. In 1854 
the house was burned in the great tire of that year. 
In July, 1805, another house was begun, and by the 
25th of September was completed and dedicated. A 
large part of the mmiey for this expense was collected 
by Mr. Mars outside the society. After him came a 
succession of pastors whose names were not obtained. 

African Methodist A'piscopal Bethel Church. — This 
church was organized in the summer of 1867 in Lin- 
coln House Hall. Dr. Brown was a leading spirit in 
the enterprise and continued to manage until a pas- 
tor was assigned. The original membership of the 
church was fourteen. The first pastor assigned by 
the Conference was Rev. Joshua Hale, whose term ol 
service was two years. After him came in succession 
twelve pa.stors, whose names were Mr. Johnson, 
James Madison, Perry Stanford, Ebenezer Williams, 
Jeremiah B. Hill, Joseph Taylor, Elijah P. Grinage, 
D. A. Porter, Charles Ackworth, Mr. Grandy, A. W. 
Whaley, Mr. Thomas and G. B. Lynch. Then in 
1887, Rev. J. B. Stephens was appoiuted to the 
charge, which he was keeping at the close of 1888. 
For a number of years their place of worship was at ' 



the corner of Hanover and Laurel Streets. But in 
1887 that property was lost and since then their 
place of worship hiis been at 302 Main Street. The 
number of communicants in 1888 was twenty-five 
and the number of families eight. 

The Mount Olive Baptist Church w;is a child of the 
Worcester Baptist City Mission Board. At first and 
for some years it was maintained as a mission. But 
the brethren of the mission having repeatedly asked 
for organization and recognition as an independent 
church, the Board at length yielded to their wishes. 
Accordingly, on the 24th of February, 1885, a coun- 
cil of the city Baptist Churches convened in the 
Pleasant Street Church and after due examination of 
twenty-two persons constituted them a church with 
the above name. For a long time the Rev. Charles 
E. Simmons served them in the gospel without com- 
pensation. Then they set about procuring a pastor. 
On the 24th of March. 1887, al their request, a coun- 
cil convened for the pur|>ose of ordaining Hiram 
Conway, a student in Newton Theological Seminary, 
to the Mount Olive ministry. His examination hav- 
ing proved satisfactory, his ordination and recogni- 
tion as pastor took place on the 29lh in the Pleasant 
Street Church. In the summer of the .same year 
hou^e No. 43 John Street, with the connected lot, 
was purchased and fitted for public worship at a cost 
of about one thousand dollars. On the 10th of Octo- 
ber, 1888, a membership of forty-one persons was 
rejjorted. 

The number of j)ersous of African blood in Wor- 
cester by the census of 1885 wjis eight hundred and 
eighty-three; in 1888 ihe number was thought to be 
about one thousand. 

Chkistadelphian.s. — The Chrisladelphians, or 
"Brethren of Christ," constitute a small body in Wor- 
cester. The order had its origin in the year 1832. 
Its founder was John Thomas, M.D., of New York, 
who believed and proclaimed that the true teaching 
of Christ was for the first time discovered in this 
nineteenth century by himself. Dr. Thomas became 
an itinerant, and went through the United States and 
the British Empire publishing his new-found gospel. 
Disciples were made and are to be found scattered 
through this country, (Jreat Britain, Australia and 
India. Their belief will, perhaps, best be seen by 
what they do not believe. In their own printed words, 
then, "Christadelphians do not believe in the Trinity, 
in the co-equality and co-eternity of Jesus with the 
Deity, in the existence of Jesus before his conception 
at Nazareth, in the personality of the Holy Spirit, in 
the personality of the devil, in the immortality of the 
soul, in the transportation of saints to heaven and 
sinners to hell after death, in eternal torments, in 
baby sprinkling and pouring, in infant and idiot 
salvation, in Sabbatarianism, in salvation by good 
works apart from the gospel, in salvation without 
baptism, in the validity of baptism where the gospel 
was not understood and believed at the time of its 



Krri.ESIASTICAI- mSTOllV OF WOKCESTKR. 



administration, iu cunversion apart from the iutolligent 
ai'preheiisiun of the Word, in the conversion ol' the 
world by the preaching of the gospel. They do not 
believe that (he Old Testament has been set aside by 
the New, but, on the contrary, they base their faith 
on '-he writings of Moses, the Prophets and the A|)os- 
tles comprehensively viewed, and reject everything 
contrary to their teaching." 

To this non-belief they add the belief that " the 
faith of Christendom is made up of the fables pre- 
dicted by Paul iu - Timothy 4 : 4, and is entirely 
subversive of the faith once for all delivered to the 
saint«." They have no pastors, deacons or paid 
officers, but in the place of them have "serving 
brethren, presiding brethren and speaking brethren." 

The first meeting of the " ecclesia " in Worcester 
was held in Temperance Hall, on Foster Street, in 
1867. In the beginning there were only twelve mem- 
bers. This number increased iu a few years to about 
sixty, then in twelve years fell back to twenty-two. 
The place of meeting is Reform Club Hall, at 4G0 
Main Street. The sum of one hundred and fifty 
dollars covers the current yearly e-tpenses. 

Swedish Chi'ihiies. — By the census of 187"> there 
were then one hundred and si.xty-si.v Swedes and Nor- 
wegians in the city of Worcester. In 1888 the num- 
ber was estimated to be over six thousand. For this 
rapidly-growing part of the population five churches 
have already been provided. Two of the.'ie are Method- 
ist, one is Baptist, one Congregational and one I. ulli- 
eran. The oldest is the 

Firtt >)wedi»U M. E. Church. — Work was begun 
among the Swedes in Worcester as early as 1876 by 
the Rev. Albert Ericson of the M. E. Church. By 
him a church Wiis organized, to which the Rev. (Jlto 
Anderson afterwards preached. In the fall of 1879 
Mr. Ericson removed to Worcester, resumeil his work 
and remained iu charge till 1882, when he was suc- 
ceeded by the Rev. D. S. Sorlin. In 1883 a church 
was erected at (juinaigamond at a cost, including the 
lot, of six thousand seven hundred dollars, and 
was dedicated on the .Slst of March, 1884. In the 
same year the Rev. ('. X. Cederberg w;us appointed 
assistant preacher and in the year following the pastor 
in charge. In 1887 the Rev. Albert Haller wax 
appointed to succeed him. 

The Secowl Swedish M. E. Church was organized on 
the 9th of .Vpril. ISS-O. This church, a colony from 
the First, embraced ninety-four members, including 
twenty-nine on probation. With these came the Rev 
.Mr. Sorlin, pastor of the First Church, under appoint- 
niPiit aa paittor of the new organization. On the Ist 
of ."September, 188.'>, the church took possession of the 
chapel on ThouKui .'^(reet, which had been purchased 
from the Christ Church Society for eight tlioUHatnl 
dollars. By two succe.Hsive additions at a cost of three 
(liou«and four hundred dollars, a sealing capacity for 
more thiui five hundred was obtained ; nor was this 
found to be sufficient. The growth of the society had 



been so rapid that in November, 1888, there was a 
membership of two hundred and thirty-five. On the 
29th of May, 1887, the Rev. H. W. Kklund of 
Stockholm, Sweden, became the pastor in charge. 
Mis ministry resulted in great spiritual and material 
enlargement. 

The Siredish Evanijelical Oongregalional Church in 
Worcester hiis its root in the Free Church movement 
in Sweden. This movement began about 1869 under 
Rev. P. Waldenstrom, D.D., who had been a mini.ster 
of the Lutheran or Slate Church. I'nder his vigorous 
lead the membership of this Free Church had grown 
in the course of si.\teen years to be one hundred thou- 
sand. Some of this communion having emigrated to 
this country had found a home in Worcester. In May, 
1880, a few of these people began to meet for prayer 
and conference on Messenger Hill, while others met 
at Quinsigamond and elsewhere. In June, Rev. ,\. 
(i. Nelson, pastor of a Swedish Free Church in Cam- 
pello, Mass., came by invitation and held several meet- 
ings. On the loth of August the hall at 386 Main 
Street, over the Gazette office, was hired for reli- 
gious services. Some old settees were borrowed frmu 
the Y. M. C. ,\., while a small yellow table, still pre- 
served as a memorial of that day of small things, was 
bought and used for a " pulpit." In this place, on 
the 6th of September, 1880, the Swedish Free Church 
was organized, and here, on the 2iiili, Mr. .Vel- 
son held the first Sunday service. In October the 
Rev. George Wiberg was called from Iowa to become 
the first pastor. In .May, 1881, the church, finding the 
hall on Main .Street too narrow, removed its place of 
worship to a hall in Warren's Block, near Washington 
Square. On the 19th of August in the same year 
a council, finding this Free Church in substantial 
accord with its own, gave it a conlial welcome to the 
fellowship of the Congregational Cliurclies. Only one 
other Swedish Congregational Church then existed in 
the country, that one being in Iowa. On the 14lh 
of .January, 1882, a parish was duly organized in the 
office of Henry L. Parker, Est]., in Flagg's building, 
under a warrant issued by him. Memliership in the 
church was made a condition of membership in the 
parish. In November, 1883, Mr. Wiberg resigned his 
charge, and on the 1st of December following, Mr. 
Nelson, the first preacher to the church, became it-s 
second pastor. Leaving in .hily, I88.'>, he was suc- 
ceeded by the Rev. Eric Nlllsun, who began his work 
on the first Sunday in .\ugust of that year and was 
dismissed on the lilh of December, 1888. At tiie 
(tame time occurred the installation of the Rev. Karl 
F. Ohlsson, who had been called from Iledemora, 
Sweden, to the Worcester church. Its membership 
wait then two hundred and fifty. 

As early iis I.SS2 this Swedish church enterprise 

had enlisted the lively sympalhies of the (^mgrega- 

tional body of the city, and a movement was then 

initiated to erect a church edifice. Through a build- 

\ ing committee, of which S. R. Iluywood wits chair- 



38 



ErOLESTASTTCAr, FTTSTOEY OF WORPESTER. 



mail aiifl G. Henry Whitcomb treasurer, tlie money was 
raised, a commodious edifice erected on I'rovidence 
street, near Union R. R. Station, and on the 25th 
of January, 1885, was dedicated with services by 
nearly all the Congregational pastors of the city. 
The cost, including land and furnishing, was nine 
thousand three hundred and ninety-five dollars, o( 
which the Swedes contributed one thousand five hun- 
dred and ninety-five. As they gain financial strength 
the whole cost will j)robably be assumed by the parish. 
A most active, efficient and leading person in all 
this enterprise was Dea. John A. Cornell. He had 
been a Lutheran aud been urged by his Lutheran 
pastor in Boston to forward that interest on coming 
to Worcester. Being, however, converted at one oi 
Major Whittle's meetings, he had left the Lutherans 
and united with the Summer Street Church. After- 
wards he took a dismission from that church to assist 
in building up the church of his Swedish bretliren. 
To him both its spiritual and temporal prosperity was 
largely due. 

The Stveilish Bnplkt Church grew out of a move- 
ment begun in 1870. In that year Mr. Anderson, a 
Swede, came from the Union Temple Church in Bcston 
and united with the First Baptist Church in Worcester. 
Soon he had a Sunday school class of si.K or eight 
Swedes. Then he and his countrymen began to hold 
meetings in the vestry of the First Baptist Church. 
In 1881, the Swedish Baptist Church was constituted 
with a body of nine members. The Baptist City 
-Mission Board now came to their help, and board 
and church co-operated in hiring a hall for religious 
services in Clark's Block, now Walker Building. In 
1882, Rev. Peter A. Hjclm was called ti-om Sweden to 
the pastorate. He remain(^d till near the close of the 
year 1888, and was then succeeded by the Rev. L. Kal- 
berg. The Mission Board had built, in 1855, a chapel 
on Mulberry Street at a cost, including land, of §9500. 
Of this amount the church from the first assumed 
$8000; in the end of 1S88 that body had become so 
prosperous that it resolved to relieve the board en- 
tirely. In the same year the membership had in- 
creaseil to about two hundred and forty. 

The Siccdish Evangelical Luihenin Gef/iscmane Church 
was organized in 1881. In 1882 the Rev. Charles E. 
Cesander became the pastor. He was succeeded in 
1883 by the Rev. Martin J. Englund, who was or- 
dained on the 17th of June. In the same year the 
church was erected on Mulberry Street at a cost ol 
about $15,000. The Rev. Oscar M. Holmgrain was 
Mr. Englund's successor, being installed in October 
or November, 1885. The installation of his successor. 
Rev. S. C!. I^arson, took place in April, 1888. The 
Augsburg Confession is the basis of tlie church or- 
ganization. The membership in 1888 was about one 
hundred and seventy. 

Jews. — Polish Jews began to multiply in Worcester 
about the year 1874. In 1888 the numberof souls was 
thought to be not less than five hundred. There are 



among them two incorporated religious societies. The 
oldest of these made an attempt to become incorpo- 
rated in 1880, which, through no fault of the society, 
resulted in failure to obtain what they sought. But 
I in 1888 the society became a corporate body by the 
name which it had borne from the first, 

>Sons of Israel. — The method of admission to the 
synagogue, or church, is by ballot after the candidate 
has been proposed and jiersonally examined as to his 
fitness. Five bhuk balls defeat an election. Mem- 

, bership involves an obligation to make certain annual 

' payments, and secures certain pecuniary advantages 
touching sickness and burial. A prime reijuisite for 
membershi]), whether in the outset or in continuance, 
is financial integrity. This society has had five 
ministers. The first was M. Metzer who came in 

! I8S0. After him came M. Touvim in 1882; M. 
Binkovich in 1884; M. Newman in 1885, and M. 
Axel S. Jacobson in 1887. In 1888 a synagogue was 
built on Green Street at a cost of $11,000, including 
land, and was occupied for religious services in Au- 
gust of that year. About fifty persons are members 
of the .synagogue and two hundred belong to the con- 
gregation. The synagogue possesses three rolls of the 
five books of Moses written on parchment, the fine.st 
of which cost $150. 
The second society is named the 
Sonx of Abraham. — It became incorporated in 188(3. 
Besides Polish .lews it eml>raced some of Swedish 
nationality. Those constituting the society went out 
from the older body because of lack of agreement on 
certain matters. But their organization and doctrine 
and way of the synagogue are the same. In 1888 a 
synagogue of brick was erected by this society on 
Plymouth Street, and was to be ready for occupation 
by the end of that year. The cost of this, with the 
land, was also about .$11,000. In that year the mem- 

, bership was said to be forty. This synagogue, like 
the other, is the possessor of several copies of the 
Torah, or Law of Moses, e.xecuted in the same costly 
style, and kept in an ark or chest for use in the syna- 
gogue service. 

I Some half a dozen families of (lerman Jews belong 
to Worcester.'but have their religious affiliations with 
Boston. 

AllMKNl.VNs. — The .Vrnienian nation was great and 
historical centuries before the Christian era. .\s early, 
perhaps, as any Gentile nation, they received the 
Christian religion; but not till the opening of the 
fourth century, and in the year 302, did the Armenian 
Church begin to be established. To St. (Jregory, the 
Illuminator, belongs the honor of being its founder, 
and hence it is distinctively styled the Gregorian 
Church. Independent alike of the Greek and the 
Romish Churches, it resembled them in holding a 
hierarchy and the seven sacraments. This ancient 
church, through varying fortunes, has come down to 
our day and still exists in its native seat. An impor- 
tant city of that country is Harpoot, in the great loop 



ECCLEf^IAiiTICAL Hli^TORY OF WORCE.STER. 



39 



made by the river Euphrat«8, and there, early in tlie 
century, the American Board of Commissioners estab- 
lished one of their niiusions. In this way the Ar- 
menians came to have relations with Americans and 
to have kiiMwlcdge of the United Slates. From Har- 
poot and vicinity many of them found their way to 
Worcester. The special attraction for them in this 
city was the great Washburn & Moen wire establish- 
ment. They began to be employed in that establish- 
ment in the year 18S2, and in 1888 there were 
about two huudred and thirty-six on its pay-roll. 
This particular set towards Worcester was the means 
of drawing others who came and engaged in other 
employments. The whole number in the city was 
last reported at about five hundred. This is said to 
be a larger number of Armenians than is to be 
found, not only in any other place in the United 
States, but also larger than all those in Boston, New 
Y'>rlc. Brooklyn and Philadelphia together. 

It w:is an obvious duty to provide for these Asiatic 
strangers edifying religious instruction. Accordingly, 
about the beginning of the year 1888, the Rev. H. A. 
Andrea.sian was invited to come from Harpoot and 
minister to them in theirown tongue. Mr. Andreasian 
was a disciple of the .Vmerican missionaries, and had 
become an evangelical Protestant as towards the Gre- 
gorian Church. He had been an ordained minister 
and preacher at Harpoot for twenty-one years. On 
receiving the call t'rom Worcester he was given leave 
of absence from his charge in Harpoot for from one 
to three years. A place for worship was secured in 
Summer Street Chapel, and there every Sabbath a 
large portion of the Armenians in Worcester have 
diligently attended upon his ministry. There is yet 
no organized church, and the congregation embraces 
Gregorian as well as Protestant Armenians. The 
communion of the Lord's Supper is observed four 
times a year, and to it are invited " all who love the 
Lord .lesus Christ." The version of the Bible in use 
is that published by the American Bible Society in 
the Armenian language. The singing is congrega- 
tional, conducted by Mr. M. S. T. Nahigian, who 
came to Worcester almost before any other jVrnieiiian. 
A serious clruwback upon the future of the .Vrnienians 
in Worcester is the almost entire absence of .\rmen- 
ian women, caused by the refusal of the Turkish Gov- 
ernment to allow them to emigrate. The entire con- 
gregation on the last Sabbath of the year 1888 con- 
Hinted of men, and mostly of young men. Mr. An- 
dreasian regarded this as such a serious matter that 
lie was determined to discourage the Armenian im- 
migration, unles4 the women came also. About 
filtecn hundred dollars a year have been raised among 
them -elves for church and burial purposes here and 
contributions to their poor at home. They have 
manifested their gratitude and a fine sense of the fit- 
ness of things liy also making a voluntary i:onlril>U' 
tion of two hundred dollars to ilie fiinds of the City 
Hospital. 



Germans. — In 1875 the number of persons in 
Worcester born in Germany was four hundred and 
three. Thirteen years later the number of this na- 
tionality was estimated at somewhat more than one 
thousand. Of these a small portion are of the Koman 
Catholic faith, but without any separate church or- 
ganization. The bulk of these are free from all 
ecclesiastical connection, except — as a leader of this 
sort put the case — " each is a little church by him- 
self" Formerly, and froln time to time, the Prot- 
estant Germans essayed to establish a German 
church, but with more of failure than of success. 
In 1S86 Charles H. Stephan, a layman of German 
birth, came to the city and was much dissatisfied at 
finding such religious desolation among his country- 
men. He at once bestirred himself to do what he 
might to remedy the evil. The result of his efforts 
was that, on the 30th of November, 1886, a com- 
pany of Protestant Germans was Ijrouglit together 
for religious service and worship. This first meet- 
ing was held in the Swedish Lutheran Church on 
Mulberry Street. A mission service continued to be 
held from that time on until April 10, 1888, when a 
church was organized under the name of the Evan- 
gelical Lutheran Church. Ten persons became mem- 
bers by signing the "constitution," and Charles H. 
Stephan and Walter Lester were elected deacons. 
The " unchanged " (tKuarta^a) Augsburg Confession 
was made the basis of the organization. The two 
sacraments are baptism and the Lord's Supper. Bap- 
tism is uniformly administered to infants a few days 
after birth by a ternary pouring of water from the 
hand upon the infant's brow. The Lord's Supper is 
administered four times a year, under the imperative 
rule of the Lutheran Church. In regard to this 
sacrament, Luther's doctrine of consubstantiation is 
strictly held by this Worcester church ; the body 
and blood of Christ are received under and with 
the bread and wine, but not in the bread and wine 
transubstantiated, as the Romish Church teaches. 
The minister of the church is the Rev. F. C. Wurl, 
of Boston, who serves as a missionary under ap- 
pointment by the German Home Ml.sslon, at Brook- 
lyn, N. Y. Preaching is held In the hospitable and 
catholic Summer Street Chapel every alternate Sun- 
day, while a Sunday school is maintained every 
Sunday. The average attendance upon the preach- 
ing is forty-five and thirty at the Sunday school. 

CiTV M1.S.SIONS.— The Trinitarian Congregatlonal- 
isls hail for many years maintained an unincoriHirated 
City .Missiotiary Society. But under the clHcient and 
stimulating lead of the Rev. Henry A. Stimson, 
D.D., with the hearty co-operation of others, both 
clergy and laity, a corporation was legally organized 
and established, Decendier 10, 18s:t, nmler the name 
of the Wureester City Missionary Society. 'I'he ob- 
ject of the society was " to promote religion and mor- 
ality in the city of Worcester and vicinity by the 
employment of misslonnrica; the establishment and 



40 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF WORCESTER. 



support of churches, Sunday schools, mission sta- 
tions and chapels for the preaching of the Gospel of 
Jesus Christ; for the diffusion of Evangelical knowl- 
edge and for the fostering of such works of benevo- 
lence as are especially adapted to commend religion 
to those who undervalue or are ignorant of it." 
This step rapidly led to a great enlargement of 
Christian activity and giving in the direction of city 
missions. Before the incorporation, the sum of $500 
was about the limit of the fund annually raised for 
the uses of the society. After the incorporation, as 
appears by the several annual reports, the amount 
raised was, in the firot year,' $2778.23 ; in the second 
year, $3«70.69; in the third year, $3764.81; in the 
fourth year, $3886.53 ; and in the fifth year, $4006.71. 
V/ith these means in hand a superintendent and as- 
sistants were employed, the city was canvassed, mis- 
sions were established and preaching in them was 
maintained. Out of all this three organized churches 
have grown up, one of which speedily took matters 
into its own hands, became strong and erected one of 
the finest churches in the city. The Rev. Albert 
Bryant has been the efficient superintendent from 
the beginning. At the close of the year 1888 the so- 
ciety owned three chapels, valued at $16,000. 

In the autumn of 1881, the Baptist Churches took 
measures for the united prosecution of city mission 
work. On the 25th of March, 1885, this enterprise 
took body and form by becoming incorporated under 
the name of the Worcester Baptist City Mission 
Boaid. The object of llje association, as declared in 
the Articles of agreement, was " to promote religion 
and morality in the city of Worcester and vicinity, 
tlie establishment and support of churches, Sunday 
scliools, mission stations and chapels under the gen- 
eral management of Baptists, the employment of mis- 
sionaries to labor in said city and vicinity for the 
furtherance of the above-named objects and the ad- 
vancement of the cause of evangelical religion." 
The policy adopted was to have all the Baptist 
Churches represented in the Board and all con- 
tribute according to ability. Moreover, it was held 
to be good policy for each church to have special 
charge of some one mission, and, if able, to bear all 
its expenses. The French Mission was reserved 
from this arrangement and kept under the control of 
the Board. This mission was organized in 1881, and 
was placed under the charge of Rev. Gideon Aubin 
in 1886. Its support, in part, is furnished by the 
Home Baptist Mission of New York City. Other 
missions under the charge of this Board are, one at 
Quinsigamond and one on Canterbury Street, both 
of which were organized in 1885, and a mission at 
Adams Square, which was begun in 1886. The 
amount of property held by the Board and invested 
principally in three chapels is somewhat le s than 
$10,000. ' 

In the spring of 1888, a mission of the New Jeru- 
salem Church, or Sweden borgians, was begun in 



Worcester. Such a mission had been established in 
1874, had been continued for nearly four years and 
had then come to an end. The numbers embraced 
in the new mission did not exceed a score at the 
close of the year 1888, and were all women. These 
provided a place of assembly, which is in Walker 
Building, and there on stated Sundays the Rev. Wil- 
lard H. Hinkley, of Brookline, Mass., a secretary of 
the General Convention, ministers to them as :i 
missionary of the New Church. There is no church 
organization ; the members belong to.different church- 
es in Boston and elsewhere. It appears from the 
New Church "Almanac" for 1889 that the number 
of societies in America then in "organized existence" 
was 141 ; the estimated number of " New Church- 
men," 10,178 ; the number of churches and chapels, 
82; and the total number of clergy in active service 
and otherwise, 113. Swedenborg died in 1772. His 
doctrines were first introduced into America in 
1784 ; and the first New Jerusalem Church in the 
United States was organized in 1792, in Baltimore. 
The first society in Massachusetts was instituted in 
Boston on the 15th of August, 1818; the whole 
number in the State in 1888 was nineteen. 

Besides the foregoing, there are various other mis- 
sions, denominational and undenominational, that 
are independent and self-supporting. 

In 1888, the total valuation, by the assessors, of 
church property, exclu.sive of schools, parsonages and 
other parochial property, was .$1,794,900. This amount 
was distributed among the several denominations 
as follows : Trinitarian Congregation alists, $577,300; 
Roman Catholics, $451,800; Baptists, $193,300; 
Methodists, .$171,500; Episcopalians, $165,100; Uni- 
tarian Congregationalists, $98,400 ; Universalists, 
$69,300 ; Disciples of Christ, $27,600 ; Swedish Lu- 
therans, $11,500, and the balance among the smaller 
organizations. The cost of the New Old South, not 
yet exhibited on the books of the assessors, would 
increase the total valuation by more than $100,000. 
The real value of the whole would no doubt exceed 
$2,000,000. 

Our historical review shows ihat while the largest 
growth has been in the line of the oldest church, the 
city has also been greatly hospitable towards other 
creeds of later advent within its bounds. 

In the preparation of this sketch of the Worcester 
churchts the following is a partial list of the authori- 
ties and sources of information which have been con- 
sulted: Lincoln's " History of Worcester," Lincoln's 
" Historical Notes " (in manuscript), Smalley's " Wor- 
cester Pulpit," Bancroft's "Sermons," Austin's "Ser- 
mon on War of 1812," " Pamphlets on the Goodrich 
and Waldo Controversy, 1820," et seq.; "Sketches of 
the Established Church in New England," Hoffman's 
"Catholic Directory," Hill's "Historical Discourse," 
" Journal of Convention of Protestant Episcopal 
Church,'' Dorchester's " Early Methodism in Worces- 
ter" (in manuscript). Roe's "Beginnings of Method- 



ECCLESIASTICAL IIISTOKY OF WORCESTER. 



41 



iam in Worcester" (in manuscript), Green's "Glean- 
ings from History of Second Parish in Worcester," 
Davis' " Hiistorical Discourse on Fiftieth Anniversary 
of First Baptist Church," Wayland's " Sermon on 
Twenty-fifth Anniversary of his Ordination as Pastorof 
Main Street Baptist Church," Barton's " Epitaphs," 
Drake's " American Uiograpiiy," Liturgy of New 
Jerusalem Church, New Church Almanac; printed 
manuals of the various churches and societies, manu- 
script records of same, including records of First 
Parish at City Hall, and of the church therewith 



connected (Old South) in the last century, in the 
handwriting of Rev. Mr. Maccarty ; Worcester Spy 
newspaper, ancient copies of Psalm-books, "Twenty- 
tilth .\Mnivtrsary E.xcrcises of First Universalist 
Society," " One Position " of Disciples of Christ, 
Thayer's "Christian Union." Much information has 
also been obtained from pastors and other living 
persons, actors in and having knowledge of what took 
place. In this way knowledge of what is written 
about the Swedish, .Vrminian, German and Jewish 
ecclesiastical matters were chicliy obtained. 



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